Sri Lanka slips into next round of Football World Cup qualifiers
View(s):
The FFSL big guns
Macau’s refusal to play the return match of the first-round qualification games in Sri Lanka having earlier got the better of the local lads in Macau, has given the Sri Lanka National Team ranked # 200, a rare opportunity of advancing to the next round. With participation fully funded by FIFA, this is a fabulous opportunity for Sri Lanka Football to see how far they can progress among better teams, most of them ranked above our countrymen. So, it is high time that the FFSL President and his benign generals get a handle on the resources that must be assembled to compete effectively, rather than exploit the FIFA bonanza to merely line their own pockets!
The National Coach and his think tank will no doubt do the old time-tested regiment of trials and pools to select the final contingent. The Selectors will rubber-stamp the squad and the MOS will provide the official chop without so much as examining in detail what Sri Lanka’s competitive standard would be against die hard football nations that we would encounter. Not that the MOS has that competence in any case. They will go through the motions and merely record what transpires because nothing else need be done. With no compulsion to cough out funds and no lateral interest in the performance of our team, the MOS would share the complicity of turning a blind eye and let our lads have one more heave at stardom.
The FFSL big guns will select their destinations and make appropriate noises about gaining experience and obtaining much need exposure. After all, papa is paying, so why the fuss? Even before the squad is finalised, the selectors have made the discovery of a professional dual citizen domiciled in the UK who with a Nigerian parentage will add color to the Lions on tour. The dwindling Sri Lanka fan base will watch with interest the outcome of this adventure that will unfold in the next few months. Counting goals will not be difficult for sure with the national coach’s mantra skewed towards long term aspirations of accumulated experience and not necessarily the KPI of accountable performance from the squad and its handlers.
The Chairman of FFSL Finance Committee has written to the Auditor General with copies to the MOS and the FFSL about the financial mess that besets Football House
Meanwhile, with the technical aspects of the game taking precedence at present and more than one national team under preparation, the geriatric constitutional process is no doubt on the back burner once again. FIFA advisors have come and gone, but league officials are none the wiser about what priorities will shape the future of the game in sunny Lanka.Protests and various representations to the MOS apparently has had no desired effect and even the Senior VP of Regional Development who threatened to quit and expose the poisoned honeypot has reconciled to his fate it is reported. Widespread speculation of the two big guns of the past from key football centers across the capital are growing apace and the calm before the storm might well be a mini-replica of the national hustings! Looking for a compromise candidate is a nice cozy deviation that is gaining currency but football wallahs know only too well that the sport will be the loser! Almost on cue, breaking news has it that the Chairman of the Finance Committee has gone public, writing to the Auditor General (AG) with copies to the MOS and the FFSL hierarchy about the financial mess that besets Football House.
It will be interesting to see what action will be forthcoming this time around when previous audit reports have been swept under the carpet in great style!
By all counts, it is common knowledge that a Normalisation Committee espoused by the MOS and empowered with the blessings of FIFA would be the free-kick that football sorely needs and prays for, but cannot find that solitary goal it deserves. The young Sri Lankan footballer is the one who will suffer. The talent that is abundant will go in search of other vistas that offer better opportunities. Badminton finally came of age because the MOS was offered strong options and Baseball has sprung to life with local players targeting teams in Japan and the US. But the poor man’s game seems destined to the gutter. The refusal by its wider community as well as the powers that be to resurrect this much maligned sport from the throes of despair is only getting worse! One wonders whether a default as conjured by Macau will favor the local footballer with the throw of the dice!