Lanka in must win game against Maldives

Sri Lanka will be facing a must win game against Maldives in the South Asian Football Championship at Banghabandhu Stadium in Bangladesh today.

In Group “B” Sri Lanka competing along with India and Maldives lost to India 2-0. India tops the table with three points.

It will be interesting to see how both Sri Lanka and Maldives would prepare to neutralise the potent counter-attacking style of football they display in their must win match.

“We’re going to play against Maldives, obviously, it will be quite difficult, but it is up to us to fight. We didn’t play well in the first game against India. This match is more important to us to climb the table to secure a semi-final spot.” said Nizam Pakeer Ali.

He further said that Sri Lanka didn’t play as he expected against India. “Most of the Indian team are professional footballers, we have played with a combination of junior and senior players. We hope to make an impact against Maldives.”

India dominated proceedings in midfield, ensuring Sri Lanka was denied of ball. A pragmatic Packeer Ali acknowledged his opponent’s quality, while highlighting the areas he would work on with the Sri Lanka team, to get the three points against Maldives.

“India is a tough team, we have to accept the truth. We could have lost 1-0 but we made a lot of mistakes. We hope to do better the next time. Our midfield didn’t function very well, and I will be focusing mainly on rectifying that for the coming games,” Packeer Ali said.

Meanwhile Nepal defeated Bhutan by 4-0 in a Group “A’ fixture worked off yesterday after leading 1-0 at half time.