Paro secured a 2:0 victory over Abul Muzlim in the Preliminary Round of the AFC Challenge League on Monday evening. The hosts controlled the tempo from the opening stages, earning all three points with a performance that felt measured rather than frantic. By then, the two sides had already met once before, with Paro winning 1:0 in August last year.
The breakthrough came almost immediately, with Y. Mishima finding the net in the eighteenth minute. The goal felt inevitable more than spectacular, built on sustained pressure rather than individual brilliance. Paro had been looking sharp in their previous fixtures, scoring twelve goals across their last five matches.
Abul Muzlim struggled to respond, picking up a yellow card in the forty-second minute as frustration mounted. The hosts added a second goal through A. Baldeh in the eighty-fourth, and the match seemed to be drifting toward a comfortable conclusion. The visitors had already lost their away fixture against Paro and appeared to be accepting the reality of the situation.
Things deteriorated further for Abul Muzlim in the closing stages. M. Hanifi received a red card in the eighty-eighth minute, and A. Jafarzadeh followed shortly after with another dismissal in the ninety-first. Two red cards in the final minutes of the match ensured there would be no late drama, and Paro could collect their points without incident.
The result extends Paro's momentum, with five wins in a row before this fixture and a run of clean sheets adding up. For Abul Muzlim, the defeat carries weight beyond the three points dropped, especially given the manner in which the game closed out. The hosts will need to maintain this level if they are to progress further in the competition.
