Dhaka, Dec 10:
Defending champions Maldives expressed optimum confidence to defy the Sri Lankan challenge in the ‘regional derby’ of first semifinal of the Bangabandhu National Stadium at Bangabandhu National Stadium at 4:30 pm Friday.Sri Lanka who have not beaten their regional rivals in the last ten years will be looking forward to break the jinx.
The officials of the two teams elaborated the depth of the rivalry in their pre semifinal press briefing at the Bangladesh Football Federation House Thursday. “Sri Lanka are our arch rivals and in the last few years the competitive edge of the Maldives-Sri Lanka match has continuously moved upwards,” said Istvan Urbanyi, Maldives’ Hungarian coach.
Urbanyi also had his own logics of the pressure. “Winning the title for the first time is easy as it comes after some hard work but retaining the title is tougher as the team faces the wrath of all the opponents and to some extent the referees and also the logistics, for example we are having less rest than the Sri Lankans who will be coming out fresher.” said Urbanyi.
On the other hand, the Sri Lankan trainer Sumith Walpola who talked in place of sick coach Sampath Perera admitted the internal pressure. “Playing against Maldives is always special, our morale is very high and we know the Maldives team very well, they beat us in the semifinal of the last edition though revenge is not in our mind but we want to win the match and move to the final,” said Walpola who spent 11 years in coaching in Maldives.
Maldives skipper and their attacking lynchpin Ashfaq Ali was nursing his bruises from the heavy poundings he took against India in the last group match and coach Urbanyi stated about his injury during the briefing.“At the moment Ashfaq is injured. Let’s hope he would be fit for the starting eleven on Friday, playing four matches in seven days is not a joke, but I categorically state that our muscles are tired but not the heart, we are ready for a very tough game and we are determined to win,” said Urbanyi.
Sri Lankan skipper Chatura Madrusinghe, who partners Maldives spearhead Ashfaq Ali in the VB Sports Club in Maldives, said with the return of six players the morale is as high as possible. “We know a lot about Maldives, I think we will take the field with our best possible team, and we think that our back four can handle the onslaught of the Maldives trio, Ibrahim Fazeel, Ahmed Thoriq and Ashfaq Ali.” said Chatura.
Chatura also hoped that his striking duo of Kasun Jayasuriya and Ediri Channa will provide the fire unsettling the opposition defence.
However Urbanyi was asking the teamwork not the individual flair.
“Only Ashfaq can not win the match, there are other players in the team my keyword is the teamwork and some special contribution.” said the Hungarian.