NRSC secures top spot in AFC group stage with historic win

New Radiant Sports Club (NRSC) has secured the top spot in the group stage of the AFC Cup, with their win Bengaluru FC on Wednesday.

NRSC won the match played in Galolhu Football Stadium in Male', with a score of 2-0. Prior to the said match, Bengaluru FC had not lost any matches against a Maldivian team in the tournament. Bengaluru FC previously won the match played in India against NRSC with a last-minute goal.

Despite including Captain Sunil Chhetri in Bengaluru FC's top 11 players, they failed to perform well in the match. However, NRSC managed to create opportunities for several goals. The continuous attacks by NRSC's forward players resulted in the team scoring a goal and taking the lead within the first 30 minutes of the match. From an opening provided by Ali Ashfaq, the first goal was scored by Ali Fasir. Bengaluru FC's goal keeper saved many other offensive attacks by NRSC after their first goal.

While the first half ended with a single goal lead, NRSC was able to secure the second goal within three minutes of the second half. The second goal was scored by Captain Ali Ashfaq. Even after the second goal, NRSC managed to create many opportunites to score which they failed to utilize. The opportunities received by Ali Fasir is especially notable.

With this win NRSC managed to break the record of Bengaluru FC's 100% win rate against Maldivian teams.

NRSC secured the top spot within Group E with nine points against four other teams. However, as NRSC managed to take the lead due to aggregate goals, Bengaluru FC secured the second spot with the same number of points. Meanwhile Abahani Limited Dhaka from Bangladesh secured the 3rd spot with fout points and Aizawl FC from India was at the bottom of the group with just a singular point.