Maldives may have failed to secure a place in the final but to win a bronze medal at the second time of asking, that in itself is a remarkable achievement.
Though we wanted our team crowned champions, a gold medal, to come this far in this tournament our players had to fight many a battles, problem of fitness. A lot owes to their grit and determination, exceptionally high work rate and a never-say-die attitude. Credit goes to them for the tireless effort they put in and all those fantastic supporters for supporting the team every step of the way.
Even though supporters did their bit brilliantly, came in huge numbers attired in red, expended their energies and as 12th player made national stadium a hostile atmosphere for the opposition they can do so much. It is shame this team did not get the kind of preparation needed for a tournament of this stature.
If only players effort and passionate support was matched by as good preparation.
For whatever reason a coach was appointed too close to the tournament, preparation did not kick off until it was less than a month. He was learning his players still even as we were playing against Myanmar, our first match in the competition.
The postponement of Dhivehi league had been a killer-blow. It blew out players’ hope of being in the prime condition for this tournament. Worse, if they had been thinking of a plan B it did not materialise. They had make do with an AFC Cup for any kind of competitive football which was mostly two matches every month, which was nothing to keep fitness problems at bay come this tournament. They needed week in, week out football in a league.
To say it short, national team had come to this tournament after more than 6 months of little activity in the way of football. For the biggest tournament on their soil they were literary parachuted to the pitch from their home on the final day. They were rushed through preparation. Mental and physical fitness was nowhere the required level.
Then the 10-day camp for preparation in Thailand. It would have been a worthy exercise if they had quality friendlies to get into the groove, to fine-tune their sharpness. Instead it was not the standard of friendlies for the standard of football they would be exposed to. Only Laos match in Male’ was one worthy of good quality. If they had one more match of similar standard players would be quicker off their rustiness and scrappy play.
True, even with the best of preparations – all the players mentally and physically ready to go – you may fail to reach the final hurdle owing to many other circumstances which are not under your control. But does that mean you go to the war without your best available weapons. You should be doing everything possible that is under your control to maximise your chance of winning.
Our best weapon was to prepare as thoroughly as we possibly could because we were the host country, this tournament was played at our stadium, in front of our own supporters. National stadium is fortress for our players. Should not we be doing everything possible that will aid our team for a dream run?
On hypothetical note, what will happen to Brazil football team that is going to play World Cup in their own country, in front of their own supporters, if they had come to the tournament with only three weeks of training and a couple of substandard friendlies. Their league had been postponed due to some reasons; their players were without competitive football for more than six months. They even did not think of appointing a coach with as little as a month to go before the big day? Is it likely they will be champions?
We should salute our players for making it to third place. They played their heart out, threw limbs and body in the harm’s way. Supporters did their job magnificently. The promising campaign derailed due to our lazy preparation.
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