Trivandrum , December 30 : India will take on Maldives in the first semifinal of the SAFF Championship tomorrow a Thiruvananthapuram. India will be high on confidence as they won two matches in a row.Maldives come into the the match with a 4-1 loss against Afghanistan. Defending champion Afghanistan will face Sri Lanka in the other semi-final. The hosts convincingly defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in the opening match. In their last group match India bounced back from a goal down to defeat Nepal 4-1. 18 year old Chhangte Lallianzuala became India’s youngest goal scorer. Chhangte scored a brace and Sunil and Rowlin found the target as India demolished Nepal.
Maldives will draw inspiration fron the 2008 SAFF final when they defeated India to emerge as the champions .Mukhthar Naseer scored the only goal in the match. India did take the revenge two years back, the line-up for the semifinal in Kathmandu stayed the same – India vs Maldives. India had won one-nil then, courtesy an Arnab Mondal volley.
“That was then, this is now,” Mondal insists. “In today’s Football every match is difficult. The Teams study each other so much. So you ought to do the extra bit to topple the rivals. That pertains to all levels of Football. Even Maldives will aim at that; and we will aim at that too,” he says .
Arnab reiterates: “That was then, some two years back. Tomorrow is a new day. I don’t think the strike is any more significant.”
Pritam Kotal, nicknamed ‘PK’ by his teammates, complements Mondal. “You have to work hard and play like as if it’s your last match. This is the ideology of the Coach and we have played every match based on this ideology,” he states.
At the Official pre-match Media Interaction National Coach Stephen Constantine said, “We are looking forward to a difficult game against Maldives as they are a good side. Not only are Maldives highly organized, they are good in the attacking department too.”
Reflecting upon his squad, Constantine opined: “The 19 Players we have now have all performed brilliantly. Although our preparations were hampered by Robin’s injury, which is a big blow for us, life goes on. But it also gives the opportunity to the other Players to fill into his shoes.”
Constantine further added: “The SAFF Competition also gives us the opportunity to play youngster against similar opponents, paving a way for them to evolve in a competitive environment.”
The British Coach has given debuts to two Players in Lallianzuala, who scored a brace against Nepal, and 22 year old defender Koushik Sarkar, in the SAFF Cup Championship thus far. In his 11matches so far, he has fielded 22 debutants, ie an average of 2 per match.
“It is always great to see a young Player make his debut – be it for Club or his Country. But the question is how do we look after the Player off the pitch?” he inquired. “If we want them to be the Star that they are capable of, we need to give them time and space. We need to look after them, nurture them, and not exploit them,” he says in one breath.
Stephen Constantine boys have been impressive so far in the tournament. But the men in blue will be without their in form striker Robin Singh who had to miss the rest of the tournament owing to a knee injury . The onus will be on captain Sunil has to take extra responsibility up front . For six time champions India a defeat in this match would be considered a disaster as they will have the backings of home crowd. Maldives on the other hand will start the game as the underdogs.
Meanwhile Maldives National Airline Maldivian together with the Football Association of Maldives have decided to fly special flight for the supporters. The island nation has been enjoying a strong local support from the start of the tournament and more fans are expected for the semis.