Tajikistan advanced to the final of the Bangabandhu Cold Cup after handing a 2-0 defeat to Philippines in the first semifinal at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Ruhul Amin Stadium in Cox's Bazaryesterday.

Tursunov Komron put Tajikistan ahead in the 32nd minute before Nazarov Akhtam wrapped up the victory late into stoppage time to give the Central Asian nation their first-ever victory over Philippines while ensuring the final of the fifth edition of Bangabandhu Cold Cup.

They will play the winner of today's second semifinal between Bangladesh and Palestine.

Although the hot and humid weather was the talk of the teams the day before, the weather in the seaside city suddenly turned cool on Monday night after heavy showers due to a depression over the Bay of Bengal, bringing respite to the players.The match was played amid a drizzle, giving both sides a different experience from what they are used to on artificial turfs back home.

On the rain-soaked ground, Tajikistan looked better than Philippines as they twice came close to taking the lead within the first 10 minutes, but Philippines goalkeeper Michael Casas thwarted those attempts to frustrate Tajikistan, who had lost their Asian Cup qualifying match against the same opposition in March last year.

Striker Komron finally broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute with a brilliant side-volley after Rahimov headed the ball into the danger zone.

Philippines came close to equalising in the next minute but Michael Daniels saw his powerful header off a Hikaru Minegishi cross go narrowly wide.

After resumption, Tajikistan adopted a defensive strategy to stop a wave of attacks from the Philippines, who however had to concede

the second goal from a counter-attack in the stoppage time.

Komron and substitute Babadzhanov Nozim played a nice one-two to expose the Philippines defence before Nazarov placed the cut-back with a left footer to the far post.

“The boys played a good match as they have given everything I wanted from them. Philippines applied much pressure in the second half and the players were exhausted due to the heavy pitch but they showed their character and discipline to win the match," said Tajikistan coach Tukhtaev Alisher, who said there was no revenge on their mind.

Philippines coach Andres Gonzales said, “For the first time, we lost to Tajikistan who are tactically and technically good on wet pitch. It was a setback for Philippines though as we didn't have any preparation with no coaching staff as well as the decision of withdrawing good players from the squad."