Maziya departs without Riley

Male’, MALDIVES – Maziya Sports and Recreation Club has departed to Vietnam for the match against Hanoi T and T in the first match of this year’s AFC Cup.

Speaking to the media just before the departure, Maziya’s coach Ismail Mahfooz (Imma) said that they are playing this game without a competitive match and it will affect the players.

“We didn’t play a competitive game still. But i am always thinking about positive things and we will try to do what we have trained to do.”

Imma also said that when competing in the AFC Cup, the main differences between the teams are the foreign players and Hanoi got some good foreign players.

“Hanoi got some good foreign players as per our information and they make the difference. So we need to concentrate on them during the match.”

“It won’t be an easy game and in the beginning we will try to defend the game and read their game plan and make the changes that we need to have when playing against such a team.”

Maziya’s defender Rilwan Waheed (Riley) was arrested today and Imma said that he don’t want to comment on the issue.

“At the moment I don’t want to comment on this issue and it’s a sad news.”

“Every player is an important player and due to any reason if a player is unavailable we will replace him. We have players who can replace Riley.”

Maziy will play their first game against Hanoi T and T on 25th February at 1500 hours Maldives time.