Maldives were an example

Maldives were crowned the new South Asian soccer champions after they edged out much fancied India by one goal to nil in Saturday’s flood-lit final at Sugathadasa Stadium. In contrast, it was a sad story for the host Sri Lanka who were eliminated in the semi-finals.

Sri Lanka and India headed the respective groups at the end of qualifying rounds and all bets were on the two regional heavyweights for a meeting in the much looked forward to final. But at the end, neither team could kiss that glittering trophy as minnows Maldives put up a Lilliputian performance to make the impossible possible.

It was so close but yet to far for Sri Lankans who have been dreaming of winning the South Asian soccer title after 13 long years. Sri Lanka’s one and the only success was way back in 1995 when they edged out India by a solitary goal in the final of the South Asian tournament, which was then known SAARC Gold Cup.

Many home fans, who were present in their numbers to cheer the Lankan team dreamt of a similar show, expecting an Indo-Lanka final. But Maldives fought their way to the final with a spectacular 1-0 win over Sri Lanka in semi finals.

Maldives proved that their path to the final was not by mistake or a shock win as they made much fancied India eat humble pie at the end. It was a big occasion for Maldives to enter the final alone and for the final, they were ‘armed’ with a 10,000-strong spectator force from Male.

That included their head of State - the Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who was a keen spectator at the final, inspiring his national team.

It was a good lesson for both India and Sri Lanka. It was the willpower and determination that took the Maldivians to the South Asian soccer pinnacle. They strongly believed in themselves and were not too bothered about the ‘big names’. They had a good game plan for each game and they just concentrated on that.

Instead, the ‘big names’ took things somewhat lightly. They lacked understanding between the forwards and the backs at crucial stages. Fancied teams such as India and Sri Lanka failed to handle tense situations with courage. They lacked options when they were under pressure.

But the Maldivians stuck to their game plan and the task they were entrusted with before leaving Male. Their forwards combined effectively with the backs and kept on attacking.

What appeared to be the most decisive factor was the manner in which the Maldives maintained pressure against both Sri Lanka (in the semis) and against India (in the final). Full credit should go to the fighting unit from Male which richly deserved the title.

It is a well-known fact that the Maldivians learnt their soccer from Sri Lankans. There have been many reputed Sri Lanka coaches who later moved on to Male to coach Maldives. Those hard efforts and humble beginnings are now paying dividends. People who learnt their ‘a’ and ‘b’ in soccer alphabet are now giving us a dose of our own medicine.

Some of the local coaches who taught the game to the Maldivians were Neville Abeygunewardena, P. D. Sirisena and Sumith Walpola.

Sri Lanka have had many bitter experiences with Maldives in soccer internationals between the two teams. I was told by veteran soccer writer Leslie Fernando that Sri Lanka had beaten Maldives only once in international soccer.

That is an indication that Maldives have been gradually taking the control of South Asian soccer supremacy without much notice.

Overall, the SASF Championship was a great success from the organisers’ point of view. The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) and its organising committee handled it in an impressive manner.

When the Lankan soccer history is written, one cannot forget that heavyweight who took Sri Lanka soccer to international levels. That is none other than Asian Football Confederation Vice President and FIFA Legal Committee head, V. Manilal Fernando, who has been propping Lankan soccer for decades. But our players have failed to convert his hard work and efforts into results. No doubt Fernando is somewhat of a dejected man.

But this is not the end. With his blessings, the FFSL ex-co is capable of bouncing back. Let’s take a stock of what went wrong for the Lankan team and concentrate on those weak links. Match by match, we should make a full analysis of our original game plan and strategies and how we finally performed on the field.

The FFSL has enough resources. They have already invested huge amounts on Lankan soccer. Perhaps there may not be immediate results and we are confident that the FFSL would continue with their original development plans and continue to invest on future.

The FFSL has already given more value to Lankan soccerites.

Like the good old days they are not jobless players who kill their spare time doing nothing. Professionalism has already been injected to a greater extent but more work has to be done to give even better recognition to our players. They already have better employment opportunities.

At the same time, it is important that we get more and more international competition for our players. Regular international fixtures and opportunities to play under different conditions abroad would put our national players in better shape.

Simultaneously, we should pay more emphasis on our youth team. The ongoing transition methodology from school level to national level should be fine tuned. If we could concentrate on junior, intermediate and development squad levels better and groom replacements to the national team in a more methodical manner, we should be able to obtain better results.

There are enough and more knowledgeable people at FFSL and we are confident that they would consider the drawbacks at the recently concluded tournament thoroughly and draw a more meaningful development plans to uplift the standard of the game here.

We are not short of talent. There is enough and more raw talent in the provinces. If we can identify them early and make an investment for the future, we should be able to produce skilful players through a soccer academy. We are capable of implementing such program which could take Sri Lanka soccer to greater heights.