Preview: Maldives vs Sri Lanka

Sep 01, 2013 - 07:15:10 | Shimaz Ali and Mohamed Firash
Maldives national team coach Istvan Urbanyi with team captain Ali Ashfaq in today's practice session held at police ground. (MS photo: Shimaaz Ali)

Related Stories

First-match-is-very-important-says-Roberto-5130
First match is very important
Be-with-us-as-12th-player-says-Ashfaq-5136
Be with us as 12th player

Kathmandu, NEPAL - It is going to be an interesting encounter for Maldives when they play against the arch rivals Sri Lanka in tomorrow’s game in the 8th edition of SAFF Championship here in Kathmandu, Nepal. Both teams played each other in 1997 SAFF Championship semi final in the same stadium and Maldives won the match by 2-1 where Sri Lanka players lost their temper and started a fight with Maldives players and some were injured.

Maldives played in the final of SAFF Championship four times and they beat Sri Lanka thrice to reach the final. In the last encounter against Sri Lanka, Maldives won the semi final match by 5-1 in 2009 SAFF Championship held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Maldives vs Sri Lanka


SAFF Championship 2013


Venue: Dasarath Rangasala Stadium, Kathmandu


Kick-off: 1830 (1745 hrs Maldives time)

TEAM NEWS


Maldives coach, Hungarian tactician; Istvan Urbanyi has said that the most important game of a tournament is the first one.

“The most important game of a tournament is the first game and I want them to be ready for the first game. I would say this is the most competitive SAFF Championship and the real answer will come after the tournament.”

“It’s always a special game. My last senior math was against Sri Lanka and which was a difficult but good game. And I hope we can repeat the performance from that game and everybody knows that it’s very important to start with a good game.”

Sri Lanka coach Claudio Roberto says that they are well prepared for the tournament and the first match is very important form them.

“Our preparation is very high. First match we will play against Maldives, which is very important for us. We have watched the videos and we observed when Maldives played a friendly in Thailand. And we have got some idea about them” told the media about his knowledge about Maldives football.”

MATCH PREVIEW

This is the sixth time Maldives and Sri Lanka meet in the SAFF championship. Maldives was the winning side in the previous four meetings and one match ended with a draw. First a 2-1 wins in Kathmandu in 1997 and a 1-0 win in Colombo last year in the semi finals of the tournament.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Maldives has won 6 games of their 16 games in different tournaments so far. 
Maldives - Win: 6, Lost: 4, Draw: 6

Maldives 0 – 5 Sri Lanka, 1984


Maldives 1 – 0 Sri Lanka, 1991


Maldives 1 – 3 Sri Lanka, 1993


Maldives 2 – 1 Sri Lanka, 1997


Maldives 2 – 2 Sri Lanka, 1998


Maldives 0 – 0 Sri Lanka, 1999


Maldives 4 – 0 Sri Lanka, 1999


Maldives 0 – 0 Sri Lanka, 2000


Maldives 6 – 7 Sri Lanka, 2000 (Penalty) 


Maldives 0 – 1 Sri Lanka, 2002


Maldives 1 – 1 Sri Lanka, 2002


Maldives 0 – 0 Sri Lanka, 2004


Maldives 2 – 0 Sri Lanka, 2005


Maldives 1 – 0 Sri Lanka, 2008 


Maldives 1 – 1 Sri Lanka, 2009


Maldives 5 – 1 Sri Lanka, 2009

PROBABLE LINEUP

Maldives
: Mohamed Imran (GK), Akram Abdul Ghani, Shafiu Ahmed, Mohamed Sifan (Kudatey), Ahmed Rasheed (Ammadey), Ali Fasir, Mohamed Arif (Bakaa), Mohamed Rasheed, Asadhulla Abdulla, Mohamed Umair and Ali Ashfaq

Name

Comment

Send Now
Comments
bataa on Sep 01
Like 7
Dislike 0
Reply
Expect a good game but Maldives will need to stick to their game plan and strategy. The physical nature of Sir Lanka’s game is by now not lost on anyone. They come hard on players and make strong tackles. Our players will need to be on their toe not to get sucked into their ugly tactics, known in the past games. Since they haven’t won any game in recent time they will not hesitate to make use of whatever tactics to nick in goal. Dhanganday will need to play his role as a leader of the pack, try to pervade a sense of confidence among his players. He must play a peacemaker as a senior player, and try to put on display his natural game.. Don’t make it a habit to huddle referee at each and every moment of opponent’s reckless challenges. There is no point in trying to change opponent’s tactics, leave it to referee to deal with it. Play your game, stick to your tactics, keep a calm head and make use of the opportunities. Make best use of past lessons of this encounter and don’t take their bait, otherwise we will get carried away.
Shane Rasheed on Sep 02
Like 2
Dislike 0
Reply
The first match in 2000 (1/05/2000) against Sri Lanka was in the Golden Jubilee tournament. That was a 1-1 draw actually; Ali Shiham scored for Maldives while Jayasuriya scored for Sri Lanka. The second match in 2000 (I think 10/05/2000) against Sri Lanka was also a 1-1 draw and Maldives lost 6-7 on penalties.
sadhin on Sep 02
Like 0
Dislike 0
Reply
maldive will win 4-0 for sure !
jj on Sep 02
Like 2
Dislike 0
Reply
mihaaru salhiehnu..... 10-0.... hahahaha....

Headlines