| New Radiant lifts FA Cup to enter AFC Cup 2007
16 April 2006
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MALDIVES - New Radiant repeated their FA Cup success again in this year with almost in the same fashion they did a year ago. Only the scorers changed this time, it was Ahmed Mohamed and Nimal scored for New Radiant in last year to beat Valencia in the final by 2-0 whereas this time newly joined Romanian midfielder Nita and Ali Umar scored for the blue team to win their favourite cup.
New Radiant started the game with full confidence and Valencia tried their best in defending the hot shots of New Radiant strikers and for the first 45 minutes they succeeded.
First half looked to be more physical and players see the opponent figure more frequently than the ball. During this period Ahmed Naaz of Valencia and Ibrahim Fazeel of New Radiant was substituted due to injury.
Nita broke the deadlock from a penalty kick in the 63rd minute. Penalty was awarded when Ali Umar was brought down by Valencia defender Akram. Habeeb dived well, but couldn't reach the ball before it hits the net.
Habeeb pulled out some marvellous saves before Ali Umar increased the lead for New Radiant in the 85th minute from a long range shot.
Eric, after his last game for Valencia, congratulated the winning team, New Radiant at the beginning of the news conference.
Later said that the result was disappointing and the players could have done better.
“The result is obviously disappointing. We had created couple of chances before the penalty, which let the spirit of the team down.”
But he noted that comparing the strength of New Radiant they could not play their usual game.
“2-0 is not an infectuative score compared to the strength of New Radiant. Despite the score our players gave their best, which I have been telling the players”
Eric said that Valencia is in the build up process and had to be given more chances for the young players.
New Radiant’s Assistant coach Niyaz mentioned that everyone worked hard to win the game and he is delighted with the score line.
“The result is the result of hard work done by all the players. They gave their best”
He noted the hard work done by Valencia players and said their discipline shocked him.
“It was a surprise to me that they played that well. They did not give any chance for our players to play our normal game. Their marking was at their best”
New Radiant by winning the title booked a place for the AFC Cup 2007.
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