New Delhi: Last time India and Maldives played each other, it was a friendly international held in July 2011 and the match ended on a draw. And when both the teams meet again in 2011 SAFF Championships on Saturday stakes would be much higher as both the teams would be vying to book a spot in the finals of the flagship footballing event in the South Asian region, the SAFF Championships.
Both the teams, who started their campaign with a draw against their respective opponents, have recovered well to establish their stronghold on the tournament has looked lethal ever since and none of the either side could be tagged as the “favorites.”
Agreeing on the situation Coach Madeira said, “All the teams that have qualified for the semi-finals are equal and no can be called as the favorites. The team committing less mistakes would ultimately emerge as the winner.”
India, the defending champions after the initial glitches has looked in good touch and it is anticipated that Savio would stick to pretty much the same side which beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in the last league encounter as he would not like to disturb the winning combination. It is obvious that Savio would not trust to give the job of attacking to anyone than other than the duo of Sunil Chhetri and Jeje Lalpekhlua and no changes are being expected in the midfield as well. The good news for Indian camp is that their star defender Samir Naik who could not play last two matches due to an ankle twist has recovered and doctors have given the green signal to play. This does give India a chance a rejoice, but also a dilemma for the Indian coach as he does not know who to possibly play as Samir’s replacement Nirmal Chhetri played extremely well. “Samir’s return does give us an added option, but the decision on tomorrow’s starting lineup could only after the team meeting and after doctors judge the fitness of each players,” added Savio refusing to divulge anything about the possible lineup.
Savio however feels that the current Maldives side has changed a lot as compared to the one that they have met in last June. “They have changed a lot and we have special preparation for Ali Ashfaq who can single handedly change the course of the match,” added Savio. Ali Ashfaq who is the captain of Maldives and was selected to Benfica FC has been on fire and if the defending Champions have to contain Maldives, then they would certainly need to come up with something special to stop this man.
On the other hand, Maldives Hungarian coach Istvan Urbanyi is a confident man and is looking to give India a tough fight. “We topped our group and we are confident. All the teams have equal chances to proceed into the semi-finals,” he said.
It would be also be very interesting to see what tactics Maldives, the runners up of the last edition have in store for Sunil Chhetri who is been on a roll and has already scored four goals in the tournament and is second on the scorers list.
Meanwhile in the other semi final Afghanistan would take on Nepal in the second semi finals, a match which is seen as the toughest one of the tournament with both the teams exhibiting a much better and attacking style of play.
Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News