Hurriyya on the verge of a glorious comeback!

It always seems they are there, but a little too late or just by a whisker, they somehow lose out their chance to roar back into first division. Not this time. It is so real – barring a misfortune of sorts, Hurriyya ( of Huraa island) are on their way to first division after a long time. Since Kuda Moosa coached them to glory and later a Dhivehi league in 2005 under the stewardship of Goffa, they had been on a free fall eventually to be jostled from their perch in first division to second.

Lot of reasons might have conspired to the downfall but time has come they rose from oblivion like phoenix. Dhivehi football needs a change of scenery and some serious injection of entertainment. Some competitive football, flavor of island fun, their supporters in the stadium with drum beats to get rid of the melancholy that seem to have taken residence in the stands! So what better way than Hurriyya making some serious headway and take their place in first division – always a bonus as it helps to trickle more supporters to the stadium. Hoping to catch them in the first division next season as full force to reckon with! 

There are two sides to VB Sports

A rampaging VB is taking local tournament Dhiraagu Dhivehi league by storm but their continental journey in AFC cup is horribly in disarray. Though difficult to believe they are exhibiting both the extremes – so colossal in domestic, yet whimpering in the international tourney.  That is how you can sum up the fortune of present VB Sports. 

They saw off Eagles last week by 9 goals to nil and this week it was yet another clean sweep.  They thrashed AYL by 6 – 1. However they are ‘embarrassingly’ bad in the AFC Cup. On last Wednesday they came up against Hong Kong side they could have easily beaten. Yet the final score was VB-3, Pegasus 5. Before that they had lost against Song Lam Nghe An of Vietnam 1-3. Let alone home advantage they couldn’t hold on to one goal lead and defense made mess of everything. It is depressingly sort of understanding and weak, worse than last year. 

The question is whether they can defend the local league title and the answer for many would be yes. But anything about AFC cup you will have to wait and see. Because to have any chance to qualify for the next round they have to win the next three matches and that would be no easy mountain to scale.

Referee's mistake Reds bad-luck

Season opening clash of two heavyweights in the Charity Shield was an ideal platform for VB and Victory to showcase their newly-acquired talents. But it was newly drafted in referee Aslam who stole the limelight by committing the blunder of blunders in what looks to be not the last of such bad officiating. He mistook a chest control by Victory defender Shafiu for a handball in Victory penalty area and handed VB a perfect opportunity to play spoilsport. Abu made no mistake from the spot to level the match for VB already trailing by a goal.  The added insult to injury was straight red-card to the poor lad. A man down, morale down, it was the worst recipe for Victory to begin a season and not the best omen for what was to come from the referees. As expected VB went an all-out assault on Victory in the extra period of 30 minutes. In the end the numerical disadvantage was too much for Reds to do much against Ashfag-inspired VB. Final score: VB win by 4-1.