Hong Kong beats Maldives

Jun 16, 2015 - 09:17:43 |
Asadhulla playing against Qatar, he was injured and replaced before the break.

Hong Kong – Maldives lost their second game to Hong Kong by 2-0 tonight in the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup at Mongkok Stadium.

Maldives played well in the first half and created some chances unfortunately they failed to convert those chances to a goal.

In the 24th minute Asadhulla Abdulla missed a golden opportunity to break the deadlock, Hong Kong defender blocked Asadhulla’s first attempt and he made another stunning shot inside the box from the rebounded ball but it was cleared as well.

Five minutes before the break coach Velizar Popov has to substitute Asadhulla Abdulla due to a hamstring injury.

Popov faced another nightmare when he was forced to substitute the leader and goalkeeper Imran due to a serious knee injury when he collided with a Hong Kong player.

Xu Deshuai opened the scoring for Hong Kong on 63 minutes before Lam Ka Wai scored Hong Kong’s second on 67 minutes to place the side on top of Group C where in another game China whipped Bhutan 6-0.

Maldives coach Velizar Popov said in the post match press conference that he is proud of his players and they missed the chances that they got in the first half.

“I am proud with my team and the only the difference was the two goals Hong Kong has scored and we got four or five goal scoring opportunities and if we missed these kinds of chances specially in an away game we will lose the match.”

“Hong Kong played well in the second half and they took advantage from our mistakes and that killed us.”

When asked about the coach’s opinion about the turning point of the game he replied it was the moment of Imran’s injury.

“Unfortunately yes, our goalkeeper is the leader and the commander in our team specially in the defense and I was forced the change him and I don’t have any chance for a technical substitute later in the match.”

In the other match of this group China beat Bhutan by 6-0 tonight in Bhutan.

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Imma on Jun 16
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The first half was good. Actually it was the best away performance I have seen in a while. Imran's injury sadly highlights the lack of depth in our football. Everyone knows that Imran is indispensable to the team, not only because he's an excellent keeper, but also due to his leadership and organisation qualities. This just proves that we should be attempting to hone replacements to current players. We can't afford to wait for the next Imran, the next Bakaa or the next Ashfaq. I remember when Imran made his debut in 2000 for the injured popular keeper Iqbal and people were unimpressed with him. We all thought he was extremely nervous and terrible with dealing crosses. My point is that Imran didn't become a world class player overnight, he did it by accumulating experience. After all, with experience comes wisdom. We should slowly try to give more minutes to younger players. Maybe play Kuda Imran during the SAFF Championship and bring players like Easa, Adhuham and Hampu off the bench for future matches. They are our most creative youngsters, but are wasted on the bench in favour of less creative runners like Sentey and Naattey, both of whom are good players that I respect due to their hardworking styles, but they are not the sort of players who change matches in international level. Players like these need experience. Popov is an intelligent man and I'm sure that he will make some changes for the upcoming matches.
ayya on Jun 16
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i hope popov stays here long time with the team , for about 5 years ? and try to build next generation team ? or FAM is responsible to build next generation football team . we are seeing slow invest in the sports ! why dont the rich ppl in our country help the country football team ?
footballmad on Jun 17
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The bigger picture, we've played 2 very tough matches and even though we have played well we haven't got s result. I hope the players don't feel too down because they have some too good opportunities in September. FAm and Popov need to arrange the best prep. and our players need to maintain the improving fitness they have shown. We are proud of the team spirit you have shown so far. Praying Imran and Asadhullah have a quick recovery, Aameen.
kareem on Jun 17
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plain simple lack of fitness causes injuries especially when high tempo games must be played in few days there is not a single player`s physical fitness level is up to standard.
footboalha on Jun 17
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We are proud of team performance too. With our limited facilities and resources we are competing with teams like Qatar and Hong kong. But we all feel we could do so much better. giving away the ball unnecessarily is biggest problem. so many miss passes or over hitting passes to create goal scoring opportunities. Sending Imran to all under23 competitions all theses years not giving chance to develop another goal keeper is going to catch up and cause problems. And yet again Asfag fails to deliver. While Chetri scored for India in last 2 WC qualifying games even though they lost. And Chetri has scored in almost all the games played against us. Chetri is so much better than Asfaq.
Boyko on Jun 17
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Lessons we learned from the last two matches 1. Either Ashfaq is not at his best form or he was devoured by a fear exacerbated by the burden of expectation of his country. For much of the 180 minutes he played he was mere shadow the real Ashfaq we used to see. 2. We still don’t have goalie to replace Imran. His organisational skills in set piece and his commanding presence was sole missed after he was replaced with another Imran. 3. Our players were bundles of nerves at times - made too many unforced errors, silly mistakes despite not in the vicinity of opposing players. 4. Assad was not playing at his best position. He should have been played as attacking midfielder who is free to run box to box because he is hard worker. His real strength was wasted playing for wing.
football for all on Jun 19
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why they r not giving a chance to our young midfielders like ... Irufaan n Yamin n messi ... weakest part in our squad is midfield ... so far the best coach to me is URBANYI ... I like popov for his attacking game ... if ashfaag is in injury someone should replace him ...
Ahan on Jun 19
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We need a new dhagey and a good sprinter..i tried my best to choreograph the mexican wave..and they shud nt let us down..we need to have a fans office and organize lots of events..i hv the knowledge..can anyone help..i just came back from studying sports management and inshah allah i will get a chance in the U16 management..wish me luck..lot of thanks to my wife..😄

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