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A narrow win for Maziya

Date: 06 June 2006 | Uploaded: 08:00 PM

Gassan(M) tries to dribble past two defenders of Valencia
"This is not soccer. This is something else. We don't possess any goal scorers" - Eric

Male', MALDIVES -
Maziya edge out Valencia in the dying minutes of the regular time, in today's Dhivehi League Zone 9 Qualification match. By winning today's game, Maziya got 8 points and move one place ahead of Guraidhoo. The win by Maziya would be a sad news for Hurriyya who are in a very desperate situation as they have to win the next two games to qualify for the league and in the last match they will be playing against Maziya. It might be a deciding match if Hurriyya wins tomorrow's encounter against Eagles.

It was Maziya who took the lead in the early minutes of the half from a superb shot by Adam Lareef (Ronaldo).

In the 34th minute Valencia got a controversial penalty, when Azim was brought down by Ibrahim Abdullah, but it seemed that Ibrahim Abdullah tackled for the ball. However, Sadhun made two brilliant saves, one from the penalty spot and the other from the rebound.

But in the next minute, Sadhun fouled Azim and a penalty was awarded to Valencia again. This time James shot instead of Niyaz, and his shot went straight in to the corner of the goal.

The happiness of Valenica did not last long as three minutes later Adam Lareef scored again from another superb shot.

In the second half Valencia scored to level the game from a fumble by Sadhun and Habeeb took the opportunity to shoot it to the corner of the goal.

But it was Habeeb from Maziya who scored the winner in the dying minutes leaving a sad face on Valencia players. Ronaldo headed to the goal from the corner, but Akram managed to block it and head it back to the play. But the ball fell on to the footsteps of Habeeb who took a superb shot in to the goal scoring the winner.

After the match there were some disturbances as some of the fans of Maziya attacked the officials and the star force police had to intervene to control them. Some of the Maziya players including Adam Lareef also helped to control the angry fans that were unhappy about the decisions by the referee.

In the post match news conrference, Maziya's coach Ismail Mahfooz said he is delighted because of the result

‘I am very happy because of the result. We won against the best team around. They have been improving match by match and to get 3 points against them is a big satisfaction”

Imma also complained about the poor refereeing

“The first penalty was a bad decision and even the yellow card to Timo. He should be red carded and sent off.”

When asked by maldivesoccer.com about the expectation of the decider game against Hurriyya, he replied that he always play for a win and would play for a win in that match as well

“We prepare for every match in a winning attitude. So we would obviously will be looking out for a win”

Meanwhile, Valencia coach was left with frustration and disappointment because of his poor striking force

“They got 3 chances in the first half and scored 2 out of them. In the second half they got 3 chances and scored 1 from it. Where as we got so many chances and were not able to score.”

“This is not soccer. This is something else. We don't possess any goal scorers. This is the first match in the league where the opponents scored more than once. I don't understand why we have to loose in today's game”

Eric noted the chance missed by Raushan

“Raushan got a 100% goal scoring opportunity. But he shot is wide. It is really disappointing”

Eric said that he would communicate with the management regarding his continuation in the job

“I have to talk with the management now. I have the desire to win each and every game. But the players don't have. If we have won today's match, we would be at the top and have got a place in next year's cup winner's cup.”

Eric also highlighted that the clubs have still not fulfilled the commitments that have been promised before he agreed to come back. But didn't want to elaborate on the commitments.

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