Looking for that yellow magic
Date: 03 October 2006 | Uploaded: 5:59 AM
By: Ahmed Zareer
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Sampath(R) in action against New Radiant |
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' ... Ashfaag is excellent. The club should not let go such a player unless they find a good replacement ’ - Eric
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It is disappointing for many of us to see Valencia heading to the end of the season with an empty hand. A team full of triumphs in the past from every corner of Maldivian football is struggling in the last two seasons. Many have many to say about the subject behind them, but we talked some close to the club.
‘Through out the season, I would say everyone has to take this responsibility’ Club’s general secretary Ahmed Mohamed (Dhona) said.
Even though Dhona mentioned ‘everyone has to take this responsibility’ there is more he wants to put in the picture about recently ended Dhiraagu Dhivehi League, a tournament so ‘friendly’ to Valencia but they finished in third position. The second consecutive year they lost the title.
‘I would say we lost the league because players didn’t give full attention to it’ he said and showed some valid explanations as well.
‘We defeated some top clubs, but on the other hand we were defeated by some minnows like Foakaidhoo. That was the main reason why we lost the title, that’s why I am saying players didn’t give full attention’
But why players acted so careless?
‘Don’t know. We pay (salary) them on time, but no idea why that happened’ disillusioned Dhona said.
Captain Assad has a slightly different notion about Dhona’s remark.
‘Giving salary on date is not simply enough; the officials didn’t have time to meet the players’ Assad said and Dhona too agreed on the relationship issue.
‘Players-Management relationship didn’t go well. The relationship should be much stronger than this time’ Dhona agreed.
One reason Assad highlighted that lead them to the failure is unfulfilling the gap left by their former strikers and he deems the club didn’t do much about it.
‘Ali Umar, Two Kilo (Mukhthar), Dhagey (Ashfaag) and Nizam left the club, but we couldn't find players who can fill that gap. That's one of the main problems we faced, if we found players to fill that area the team would be ok'
Once Eric took the helm of the club earlier this year, he too mentioned the same issue couple of times and showed disappointment over leaving a striker like Ashfaag without finding an alternative.
‘I watched videos of some matches of last season and Ashfaag is excellent. The club should not let go such a player unless they find a good replacement’
The best Valencia achieved this year is entering the final of FA Cup. They lost the title to defending champions New Radiant. A struggling season for the yellow team is coming to an end and most of their fans would be happy if Valencia could find the loopholes and come up with the real Valencia next year. And for that they sure need some changes, may be big changes and Dhona surefire that.
‘There will be changes next year, that’s for sure’ He said.
Dhona also unveils club’s policy about keeping those players moved from Hurriyya under their wing.
‘Those players we want, we will work hard to keep them’ He said, but didn’t mentioned the names.
It is always the coach that many give the credit of success and blame of failure and Dhona confirmed Eric is not a choice any more.
‘The management has finalized to bring a foreign coach for next year, but not Eric’ he said.
Eric failed to shine under Valencia’s helm, but many believe he is a top class coach and even Assad agreed on that. But another problem Eric faced was that he couldn’t find the blessing from some of his players.
‘Eric was a good coach and his trainings were great. But don't know exactly why some players had problem with him. May be he thinks more professionally and some of us found it difficult to adapt' Assad said about their English coach.
It is obvious that what happened in these two seasons would not throw Valencia far behind their opponents. A new season will welcome next year and Valencia is likely to gather their strength once again and become a threat to their opponents in front the trophies. And for sure, that’s what most of the soccer fans would expect from them and that will only lead to more entertaining and more competitive football in our domestic tournaments.
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User Comments |
One thing I noticed during last season was that Eric, Valencia's coach was extremely public when criticizing his players. This wasn't true only after one match, but right from the beginning and throughout the season until the end. Criticizing players during training is one thing but to do that in every interview is probably what killed the morale of the squad. Valencia needs a good coach who has faith in his players. Also, in the long-term the managemet needs to think about investing youth players for the future! - SODIQ
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