De Silva defends woeful show at Malaysia
Anura de Silva
President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) Anura de Silva told Sunday Times yesterday said that he will not blame the coach or the team which failed to win a single match at the AFC Solidarity Cup Football Tournament held in Malaysia.
“We did not have enough match experience. The players were inexperienced and most of the players were very young” he said.
He also said that the national team had not played an international game for nearly one year.
“I think the team showed a lot of improvement and made steady progress as they were able to hold the unbeaten Macau to a 1-1 draw after losing to Laos and Mongolia” he added.
In fact Sri Lanka led 1-0 until the 84th minute of the match after they had opened scoring in the fifth minute of play.
He further said their target is the South Asian Football Championships to be held in 2017 in Bangladesh and the AFC Cup tournament was a work out for the players.
FFSL President believed that the national team has the potential to take on the best if they are provided with more international exposure.
“We hope to provide the national team with at least one international match every three months and they will be playing against Qatar after February and Japan in September 2017” added Silva.
In fact misfortunes, rather than the lack of skills, was the main reason for Sri Lanka’s downfall at the AFC Solidarity Cup Football Tournament.
Sri Lanka bowed out of the tournament by losing to Laos 1-2 and then succumbed to a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Mongolia. In the last match of the group Sri Lanka figured in a one all draw.
Taking into consideration the performances of the three games, the young Sri Lankan players did not fall drastically at the contest. Laos were ranked 177 in FIFA Rankings and Sri Lanka lost 1-2. Sri Lanka is ranked 193 in FIFA Rankings.
In the second match Sri Lanka lost to Mongolia 0-2 and both goals were scored due to minor mishaps which gave the opponents penalties.
Macao were unbeaten in the group and Sri Lanka drew the game 1-1.
If Sri Lanka has the chance to play international games every three or months then Sri Lanka has the chance of bettering their opportunities.
The Sri Lanka Team returned to the island on Friday sans Coach Dudley Steinwall and Assistant Coach.
Seven teams took part in the AFC Solidarity Cup 2016. The teams which participated were: Group ‘A’: Nepal, Brunei and Timor. Group ‘B’: Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Laos, Macau. Nepal emerged ‘A’ group champions with Brunei as runners-up and qualified from this group. ‘B’ Group champions Macau and Laos qualified from this sector.
The teams which were ousted from the first-round were: Timor, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. Timor and Sri Lanka were not able to win any games but managed to draw two matches.
This is the first time that Sri Lanka participated in an international tournament after the SAFF Championships in Nepal (2015).
Sri Lanka recorded two goals in the tournament. Asikur Rahuman scored against Laos and Kavindu Ishara scored against Macau.