Bangladesh national football team forward Rakib Hossain (L) celebrates his equaliser against Maldives in their Group B second match of the SAFF Championship 2023 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, India, on Sunday. – Photo courtesy: BFF

Bangladesh beat the upper-ranked Maldives 3-1 coming back from one goal down, in their Group B second match of the eight-team SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, India, on Sunday.

The first half of the game ended 1-1 as Maldives forward Hamza Mohammad scored in the 18th minute before Bangladesh equalised in the 42nd minute with forward Rakib Hossain scoring the equaliser.

Bangladesh took the lead in the 67th minute when defender Tariq Kazi scored from a goalmouth melee while forward Sheikh Morsalin extended the margin in the 90th minute.

With this win against Maldives (154th), 38 places ahead of Bangladesh (192nd) in the current FIFA rankings, Javier Cabrera’s charges kept their hope for the semis alive in the eight-team tournament.

Bangladesh lost their first game 0-2 against mighty Lebanon while the Maldives beat Bhutan 2-0 to start their campaign in the 14th edition of this tournament.

Bangladesh will play their final game of the group round against Bhutan on June 28.