Pressure is on Qatar says Popov

Male', MALDIVES - Maldives national team coach Velizar Popov has said that tomorrow
night’s world cup qualifying match against Qatar is going to be a huge
 challenge and that is the only way to improve the standard and to
 check the level of improvement in the team.

“First of all it’s a great tournament and huge challenge, to play
against big teams like Qatar, China and that is the only one way to improve
 your level”

Popov said that many people may believe Qatar is the favorite, but
with the home advantage Maldives got, the pressure is on Qatar.

“Maybe for almost everyone Qatar is absolutely favorite, in theory on
the paper maybe it’s like this, but we’ll see on the pitch. Because
 the match is starting eleven against eleven and we have two advantages, First we play at home the stadium will be full and the crowd of our
f ans will support the players and the team, this can give us
advantage. And also psychologically I think we have little bit
 advantage because for Qatar, if they don’t win this match it will be
big shame, and for us this match is nothing to lose so we can only win
from this match”

“ I am sure the
 ambition of Qatar is to win the group and to go to world cup. So I am
sure Qatar will not under estimate us because they are professional
 players and their level is already very high.”

Popov said that his team will try to display the best performance to
make the supporters happy and they will play for the country.

“Personally I respect Qatar but I am not afraid because
in the end of the day this is not about life and death, it’s only one
game so we will try our best to make our supporters happy and play for
the country.”

“About the camp, One more time I want to thank FAM for trying to make
 little bit better preparation in excellent conditions and facilities
 in Korea, because here it’s impossible. But for this short time we
make the most, almost the everything that we can do in this moment so 
I hope tomorrow night to see the result of this preparation.” Popov
 expressed his satisfaction about the ten days camp in South Korea.

Popov considers winning only as a good result

“First of all for to me good result is when you win, if you lose 1-0 or
draw 0-0 is not a good result for me. So I will not play to lose by less 
goals, We will try to play football because as I said we don’t have
 any pressure about the result of this match so we will try to play 
good football”

“The most important thing for us and for me is the players to play
 without fear. This is the most important thing. I will be responsible for the result. You know the rule in
 football, when the team wins all the credit goes to players, when the
team lose it’s only my fault.” expressed his view.

Akram speaking to the press today. (MS Photo: Faid)

Maldives player Akram said that they are well prepared for the game
and anything can happen during the ninety minutes.

“Like coach said we are playing for ninety minutes and anything can
happen, we are well prepared for this game”

“I think we are going to play a much stronger match than previous
matches we played. We will play according to coach’s plan and
our biggest spirit will be supporters support. Hopefully we will bring
 a good result from this game”

Maldives will play against Qatar tomorrow night at 2100 hours.