Business as usual at Football House in preparation for SAG and World Cup Qualifiers!
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With administrative mishaps around, the Sri Lanka football team is at doldrums
When you have a ranking around the # 200 mark, anything goes, one may suppose! Newspaper reports are agog that the National pool is in training and will shortly participate in the Bangabandu 2019 Championship in Bangladesh, as a prelude to the official engagements in the South Asian Games (SAG) and the World Cup qualifiers. It appears that the National Team Manager and the National Coach have buried the hatchet, in order to undertake the tough-as-nails tournaments, which, more or less, are an index as to where we would be in the Asian rankings, let alone the World!
If one keeps abreast of the Premier Leagues of the world, one can see that, over the last few months, the transfer window has been wide open, with the superstars of the world negotiating transfers at astronomical rates, and settling into a new season. That of course is a whole different ball game played at the highest levels of the sport. For a lowly nation that does not seem to wake up to these realities, the world stage is a distant dream, but we can, at least, demand that our Football leaders learn from what is taking place out there. A whole new tempo is emerging and, unless we have a feel for modern Football standards, we will be falling back on a whole slew of excuses that are not all in sync with the Football World out there!
When we say “business as usual”, what we are alluding to is the archaic system of trials that, invariably, produce old warhorses who don’t last the pace of 90 minutes on the trot, in today’s game! The local benchmarks are so outdated that the team, when it finally comes out, is all but shocked to encounter competitive teams that produce work rates that are much higher than that of our poor lads. That ignorance of what to expect is a frightening proposition and our venerable coach is left to, all but shout himself hoarse, to keep his charges in the field of play for the duration of the game. National Coach Rumy Packeer Ally knows these limitations and his fitness trainers also know too well that you cannot muster speed and endurance from squads that do not have the kind of sustenance to withstand the rigors of today’s Football cauldrons. We need to address that unrelenting physical demand, if we are to survive the looming contests. The old fashioned routine we resort to, Football experts will tell you, does not quite meet the challenge!
For reasons only known to the wise men of Football House and the indifferent masters at the Ministry of Sports (MoS), the calculated plan of development never materializes. Football is left to the mercies of a few misguided charlatans, whose biggest achievement is winning the Football hustings two years ago! A few die-hard faithful of the game are keeping the flickering flame alive, by nurturing their teams, while the school system, aided by opportunistic brand merchants, are keeping the youth in harness. What this sport will bring these young fatalistic proponents is anybody’s guess. What is obvious is that no concerted effort is evident and the constant junket of Football travel, facilitated by the bounty of FIFA and AFC, continues regardless and without purpose.
There is no doubt that the season upon us will bring fresh enlightenment. Our National team is our pride and the ignominy of defeat can be borne only if our lads play like champions. The result is tempered, if the contest carries the hallmark of dedicated effort. Coach Packeer Ally is aware of these expectations. One cannot expect our handsome MoS to fly around to encourage our boys, when he has an election campaign trail to engineer from Uva to Diyawanne. And, if he has to tear up another contract or two, he can leave it to the mercurial National Manager of Football House, who we all know is a past master at Red Cards!