Tough test ahead – Ayya

Aug 22, 2014 - 12:37:29 | Shimaaz Ali
Maldives Under 23 team won the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Football Tournament.

Male’, MALDIVES – Maldives under 23 national team’s assistant coach Ali Nashid has said that the teams in their group for the Incheon Asian Games are strong and they have a tough test ahead of them.

“We have to play against Thailand, Indonesia and East Timor. Thailand and Indonesia teams are very strong and among them Indonesia would be a difficult game for us.” Ali Nashid (Ayya) said, speaking to maldivesoccer.com.

“In the last edition we played against Thailand and we can give a good fight against them and East Timor but we have to concentrate a lot on Indonesia.”

“We know that Indonesia is preparing very well for this tournament and there trying hard to get a good result in this tournament and this is one of the tournaments that their federation prioritized.”

In the last edition of the Asian Games held in Doha, Maldives drew against Thailand and Pakistan while we lost to Oman by 3-0.

Maldives Under 23 team will start the preparation for this tournament on 28th of this month.

Maldives team will leave to South Korea on 11th September and the head coach of the team will be Drago Mamic, who guided the Maldives team to a very first medal of a tournament organized by the head of Asian Football, AFC, when we finished 3rd in this year's AFC Challenge Cup held in Maldives.

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Imma on Aug 22
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Tough test ahead, but zero preparation. This group actually poses a very good chance for Maldives to go through to the knockout stages for the first time, but it all depends how well the team has gelled together. Indonesia just barely managed to scrape a win in home soil in the MNC Cup and we can probably match Thailand if we play out of our skins. But like I said; preparation. Indonesia U-23 team has been preparing for this for the past year, playing friendlies in Europe and against Asian giants and I expect them to be extremely strong against us.
hasan on Aug 22
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Is there any strategic planning of Maldives football, the long term planning and its development? It seems they always look for here and now. We don’t see any future in how they plan football development. The responsible office bearers do things only to the extent so that the public will not see them as inadequate administrators. Look at this under-23 team. The seniors players they have chosen are national team forwards Ashfaq and Asadulla. What is the point? We are not going to go much further in this competition. So why not give chances to upcoming and emerging forwards, after all they the ones who are going to take place of Ashfaqs and Asdullas the day they retire. The result is these young players are devoid of much needed experience when they assume the responsibility of senior team. This kind of tunnel vision is ruining our football and its development.
Ahan on Aug 24
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Good point. The U-23 team does not get any friendly match. And the only opportunity for them is tournaments like this. So why include over age players!!! I have no problem in it IF U-23 gets regular friendlies!!!

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