Of sky-high expectations and below par preparation

May 31, 2014 - 01:29:01 | Mohamed Niyaz
Maldives team players posing for a photo with the bronze medal in AFC Challenge Cup 2014. (MS Photo: Shimaaz Ali)

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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footballmad on Jun 01
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A really good report! What needs to happen next is, ask questions about the current FAM's capacity to achieve our outcomes and aspirations. I'm not sure if the top government officials had not intervened, the tournament and the lighting in Addu would have happened at all. With the fantastic skills and fans base we have we need a matching Football Association. I also think we have a good coach and firmly believes to retain his role in order to allow him learn about the players better than he did for the tournament and let him work with the clubs, with a new FAM and the players to prepare for next year's world cup qualifying.
Ahan on Jun 01
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Good article and i also have an essay to write but i will just say couple of words.::: I think FAM and NT needs to consult Usain Bolt. I mean, every time he breaks the records and is undisputed champion of the tracks he still finds his mistakes and room for improvement!!! Seriously when you are top of the world and no one else to compare and still finding problems within yourself and trying hard to improve, thats crazy man!!!!! But on the other hand look at our FAM and NT???!!! never learns anything!!! But with every disapointment tournament they will say lessons learned!!!!
DhiFootball on Jun 04
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Once again a great article by Niyaz and thanks for it and keep them coming. While totally agreeing to what the article says I must say that in short we blew the best chance to play in Asian cup merely due to poor planning by fam in preparing our team. Fortunately we had dhagey playing in Malaysia and we got him in to the tournament in a better fitness level than the rest of the players. I am still trying to figure out how fam and the ministry could dish out rf 100 Million or more on renovation and could not spare about rf 2 million from it to bring a good coach well ahead of the tournament. Any ways it's time we assess the performance of the coach and his tactics and if fam is sticking to him, at least get a long term plan from him and develop our players. With a proper 5 year plan we can qualify and play in the Asian cup 2019. And I suggest that we concentrate on the current under 16, 19 and under 21 team and train them for it. Stop ever thin and just make the players super fit. I believe the rest will come in gradually. Before I stop I must congratulate the team for achieving the bronze and all credit is due to the team. Supporters did a great job and were very desciplined in supporting the national team through its ups and downs. Let's target for a second round place in the upcoming Asian games and a gold in next saff games. May Allah give success to our team and show the people in charge the proper way forward in taking us to the next level.
Imma on Jun 06
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We need to do two things: 1. Invest more in our youth and 2. Pre-planning. India and Nepal's U-16 teams qualified for the U-16 Asian Cup, while Maldives did not even participate in the qualifiers. You can say that their future looks bright, but can we say the same about ourselves? The U-21 FA Cup was a good idea, but we need more competition in the younger age groups. Coach Drago Mamic has also highlighted this and the importance of pre-planning. FAM needs to draw out a proper plan for next year starting from now. Fix the competition dates, arrange a few friendlies on FIFA match dates. This will prevent the last-minute haggling we see now. By the way, is our U-23 team participating in the Asian Games held in Korea this year? We have always participated in that competition, it will be a real shame if we don't this time.
DhiFootball on Jun 09
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I hear that they are participating in the Asian games. But you and I know how these things end up sometimes. Won't be surprised to hear excuses like budget over run due to stadium renovation, league not finished so teams unhappy to release the young players, no seats on flights to Korea and so on. But I really hoped that the u23 takes part and start practice right now. Plus we need to train a new keeper so suggest not to use imran as one of the overage players. Try and take u19 and u21. Players as much as possible. As Imma says we need to develop our youth.

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