Mahinda Rajapaksa International Football Tournament:

Maldives fancied against Pakistan

by S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen – Kandy Sports Correspondent in Nawalapitiya

Maldive Islands go out favourites but Pakistan could create an upset when these two countries clash in the final of the inaugural Mahinda Rajapaksa International Football Tournament organised by the Ministry of Sports in association with the Football Federation of Sri Lanka. The final will be played today (Sunday December 9) at the picturesque Jayatillake Sports Complex, Nawalapitiya. The kick off has been scheduled for 3.30 p.m. The Maldives have performed well in this tournament which is a football triangular involving Pakistan, Bangladesh the hosts Sri Lanka and Maldives from the South Asian region and the trophy presented in the name of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Maldive Islands in the opening match beat Sri Lanka 3-0 and in the second match beat Pakistan 1-0 after a close tussle.

But up to that time lowly placed Bangladesh ended Maldive Islands success run when they toppled them 1-0 on Friday. Perhaps Maldive Islands having booked the berth for the finals took this match easy and paid the penalty. But this does not take away the gloss from Bangladesh victory.

The strong of the Maldive Islands is their defence which is well fortified and they have conceded just one goal in the league stage of the tournament. Their forwards too have displayed good co-ordination and this will make them the favourites to win the finals. Pakistan on the other should consider themselves lucky to be in the finals. They beat Bangladesh 1-0 in the opening match but lost their second match to Maldive Island 0-1 in the next game. Then came the crucial deciding match against Sri Lanka on Friday which ended in a thrilling draw. Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan had identical records with one win each and a draw each. But the goal aggregate decided the berth to the finals in favour of Pakistan as Lankan conceded three goals to the Maldive Islands whereas Pakistan gave away only one. Thus Sri Lanka’s golden chance of making it to the finals vanished.

The teams:

Maldive Islands (from): Jazlaan Mohammed, Numaan Ahamed, Adhuhaam Hassan, Thoriq Mohammed, Muan Moosa, Ali Amdhan, Imaaz Ahamed, Waheed Rilwan, Abdull Asahullah, Adhuham Hassan, Mohammed Samdhooth. Irufaan Mohammed, Shifaz Hassan, Muaz Abdullah, Mohammed Maavy, Athiff Hussain, Saruhan Mohammed, Ahamed Ziaan, Ibrahim Hamdhean.

Pakistan (from): Saqib Haniff, Faisal Iqbal, Hameed Khan, Sinuk Salman, Kaleen Ulich, Saeed Ahamed, Ahsan Ullah, Naveed Ahamed, Saddham Hussain, Hussain Abbas, Mohammed Adil, Muzammil Hussain, Sher Mohammed, Mohammed Ali, Zakir Lashari, M. Jehangir, Mehmood Khan, Bilawalm Ul Rehman, Mohammed Salman, Ghulam Fareed.