Lankan campaign begins amidst a shroud of secrecy
The 11th South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championships will commence with the Sri Lanka vs Nepal game at the Trivendrum International Stadium in India at 3.30 pm IST. The competition ends on January 3, 2016.
Eight teams from the South Asian region were scheduled to take part in the contest but Pakistan withdrew from the event reducing the number of participating teams to seven.
The Groupings are as follows: Group A – India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Group B – Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
According to the latest FIFA world rankings released on December 15, Sri Lanka is in 194th position, which the lowest positioning the South Asian region.
Defending champions Afghanistan are in 150th position. Maldives are in the 160th spot, India is in 166th position, Bangladesh – 182, Pakistan is in the 184th position. Bhutan is in 188th position.
The Sri Lanka team to take part in the contest was not announced as on Friday, December 18, only a 24 member pool was announced by the Sri Lanka Football Federation.
They left for Trivendrum on December 7 to take part in two practice games as well as to take part in the competition accompanied by two officials.
Usually when a team leaves for a tournament of this nature the usual practice is to hold a press conference to take stock of the competition ahead. But this time the team has left unannounced.
Nobody in the Sri Lanka Football Federation disclosed anything to the press. FFSL officials said that the team will only be announced in Trivendrum.
Usually all attention is given to the team. This time however the centre of attraction is the pool. This is a rare occurrence in sports circles.
When the Sunday Times tried to get information about the team from the FFSL they were unable to divulge any information as most of the top officials had gone to Trivendrum with the 24 member pool.
According to the history of the SAFF championships Sri Lanka were able to win the championship in 1995 at the contest held in Colombo. At that time the competition was contested for the SAF Gold Cup defeating India 1-0 in the final.
The golden goal in the game was netted by Sarath Wellage. Other than that Sri Lanka has never won the football championship.
The last edition of this tournament was held in 2013 in Nepal where Sri Lanka crashed to a staggering 0-10 defeat at the hands of Maldives. With this defeat Sri Lanka plunged into the dark depths of defeats in the sport.
In the second match Sri Lanka lost to Afghanistan 1-3. Sri Lanka won only one game in the contest which was against Bhutan by 5 goals 2 but sadly Sri Lanka was ousted from the first round of the tournament when they lost to the Maldives by ten goals to nil.
The Sri Lanka team for the SAF championships in Trivendrum is led by Rohan Nalaka Amaratunga of the Sri Lanka Navy. His deputy is Kavindu Ishan of the Sri Lanka Air Force.
Sri Lanka’s second match in the competition will be on December 25 (Christmas Day) with India and if Sri Lanka suffers a defeat here Sri Lanka will be out of the contest.
The SAFF championships commenced in 1993 and since then India has won the event on six occasions. They are: 1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009 and 2011. Maldives were champions in 2008, Bangladesh were champions in 2003.
The defending champions of the competition held in 2013 were Afghanistan. Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan have never won the championships.
Sri Lanka Football Pool for South Asian Football Federation Cup 2015: Prabath Ruwan Arunasiri, Danushka Rajapaksha, Mohamed Rahuman, Sajith Kumara, Chalana Chameera, Madushan de Silva, Mohamed Rifnaz, Johar Zarwan, Mohamed Shaheel, Sujan Perera, Mohamed Hakeem, Subush Madushan, Chathuranga Sanjeewa, Wasantha Hettiarchchi, Charitha Bandara Rathnayaka, Charidu Sampath, Roshan Nalaka (Captain), Kavidu Ishan (Vice Captain), Nuwan Priyankara, Sebamalainayagam Gnanaruban, Chathuranga Madushan, Kavish Lakpriya Fernando, Mohamed Ishadeen, Dewinda Bandara, James Edison Figurado, DanushkaWijesiri.