‘Not easy to qualify as group winner’

Male’, MALDIVES – Maldives National team coach Istvan Urbanyi has said that it will not be easy to qualify for the semi final of the SAFF Championship as the winner of the group. In an exclusive interview given to maldivesoccer.com the Hungarian tactician said it’s too early to talk about the group winner or the runner up.

The following is the interview that Mr. Urbanyi has given us.

MS: What would you say about the upcoming SAFF Championship.? About the draw and the group that Maldives is in?

IU: I think the draw went over imagine and that’s something that we don’t do on our own. It was interesting because India and Afghanistan was first seeding. Nepal, Afghanistan, Maldives and Bangladesh these are good team and in a competition like this you can’t talk about easy games or something like that otherwise you might get some trouble.

My target is to win the group and I don’t want to talk about other teams.

MS: Who is the best team in the Group B?

IU: Afghanistan is a strong team and very well organized team and the players are physically very good and they qualified for the Challenge Cup and also they played in the final of 2011 SAFF Championship. And they played good football and they were a tough opponent for India in the final. So definitely Afghanistan is a strong.

Sri Lanka is getting better with the help of Brazilian coach and the players have that skill.

MS: Are you looking to qualify as the winner of the group or you will be looking the opponent from the other group that you may face in the semi final?

IU: It is never easy to qualify as the winner of the group. Bhutan is a weak team but the other teams are good and our target is to win all the games in the group. It will help the players to improve the morale.

Last time we won the group and India qualified to the semi final as the second team of that group and we played against India but from penalty we lost to them. It’s just too early to talk about it now. What I am focusing now is to play the first game and I want every payer to pick up the style of what we play.

MS: In recent years many players have changed their position of play and are you going to use them as what they have been playing in the clubs?

IU: Definitely these are the changes we all need. When I came here Umair played as a right back and even in that time I can see the offensive style of play from him. His style of play is like Dani Alves of Barcelona. But when he started to play as a striker in Victory he proved a lot and that was the issue. So today he was one of the best offensive player in the country.

I think in this team we have everything that we could have. Experience, ambition, speed, power, individual skills and just an unbelievable professional in goal, which is Imran and I think the team is getting close to his performance and personality.

I didn’t say that we are the strongest team but I told them in a meeting that if we can play inselfish plays than we can have good results for sure. Physically we are not the best team for sure.

MS: DO you think that Ali Umar can make a difference in the team this time?

IU: Definitely, he is an extra option. To be a successful team you have to have players who can make difference and he just proved that in his entire career and even in the last two years he showed it. He enjoyed that and we all know that he is a good player and there is no question about it.

MS: Are you going to play same game plan that you have used in SAFF Championship 2011 and U23 tournament held in Sri Lanka?

IU: We need the ball and we have to be brave enough to play and if we start to fight against a team like Afghanistan I don’t know what will happen and if we tried to play long and high balls against India I don’t know they might better than that but if we play with one two touches and short passes so we can be one of the best in the tournament.

MS: Do you think that having foreign based players is a problem for you?

IU: Having foreign based players is not a problem for us but it gives them an added advantages. Their experiences and it gives some confidence to other players in those teams. If we play our own style of play it will be a problem for them.

MS: Do you think that Maldives can win the tournament and bring back the trophy this time?

IU: If everyone can bring his level of maximum and I’m not talking about only fitness side, just concentration, motivation and the key is confidence. If they can play with full confidence then I can guarantee that we can win and extra things may happen. And I would say that this best way to win a trophy.

MS: Who is the favorite to win the tournament?

IU: Definitely India is the favorite team and Afghanistan is a strong team. Whoever qualifies from group A it will be a surprise.