Umair finding his true calling

Goodness me: I should have listened to my inner voice...who told me I would be better at being a defender

Does he know where his best position is? Right now Victory management and fans don’t need to know as he is delivering when his team needs him. What more he is the top-scorer in the league. That is Umair for you. Originally a defender, he is currently the most dangerous striker in the country.  If you see the kind of goals he has scored you could well say he has all the attributes to be a great striker.  9 goals in 8 matches is no mean effort by any standard. 

Blessed with lethal right foot, his accuracy in shooting and dead-ball situation is second to none. Why on earth he has been playing for a defender all these years? Who had been giving him false advice? 

So how did he land up there in such an advance position in the first place? Well, he is not really playing as a forward but an attacking midfielder when not a left winger. Blossoming under the watchful of eyes of young coach Nazeeh ( head coach’s young brother), some people may be quick to point it as freakish accident rather than a more remarkable revelation of a player’s real position on the pitch. The truth of matter is a forward is as good as when he is delivering. If not he is worse than deadwood. 

Right now he is not deadwood. He is better than more celebrated strikers like Oppo or Ashfaq. If he continues in this fashion he will be first defender in Maldives who won golden boot for best forward in the country. In volley ball metaphor it is akin to a setter becoming the best spiker.

Don’t blame Vanli

Clueless: where has it gone wrong

The man from Turkey has been the most successful coach in the last three seasons. Under his stewardship VB Addu FC has won three leagues titles back to back. But today his team is fighting for a place in the top half of the table and his job as a VB coach is at stake. 

That is how quickly fortunes in football changes. One day you may be at the top, like the invincible creature teasingly looking down at your rivals who had breathlessly waged a war to topple you from the high and mighty pedestal, but next day losing not the grip on the title but also the very power to cling on to the division. Let alone your reputation as an inspirational coach.

Right now for Vanli each defeat taste like a fresh injury to a healing wound. He is running out of words to say and fans are running out of patience. Finger of blame is closing on from all direction. Media is grilling him with a volley of uneasy questions.

His team is in the fifth place having won only twice in eight matches. However after the win against AYL, Vanli says they are on right track. But for how long?  6-1 win against AYL may hide more than it reveal, masks the real problem.  We will have to see…

The real problem many people agree is they don’t have the three key players they had last season. And they are not properly replaced. The best player they have, Adey, is out of form. It can be attributed to VB Addu FC’s dismal performance so far. 

AYL : a living example of never-say-die attitude

It is surprising how AYL has lasted this long despite being bottom – dwellers for the last three seasons. They may not have big-name players, huge wad of cash to spend on but one thing they don’t lack is the will to persevere in this division, the never-fading spirit to come through any adversity. No amount of defeat can dampen the moral well-being of this enthusiastic group of players. They are there to renew their effort for the next endeavor. 

They are not playing for money; it is for the love of the game. They don’t have that many supporters but they deserve special note of gratitude from all of us for the way they have come this far, this long. Coach has never been in trouble for lack of players. There are always enough in the squad to choose from. 

They may be at the bottom of the table at the moment as usual, but we all hope , sooner rather than later, All Youth Linkage (AYL) will have some monetary link to strengthen their squad and one day make an impression in the league and create a niche for themselves. Keep it up guys!!  

Time for New Radiant to dispel supporters’ disappointment

 

New Radiant is not presently playing the kind of football that were expected of them. In the last two matches against Maziya and Victory respectively, they managed a single goal. More than a clear-cut goal it was fluke, though Ali Umar will take all the credit for the way it dipped over Maziya keeper and into the net. Ashfaq has not particularly enjoyed in the last two outings, in fact he is poor and wasteful, his counterpart Tom not having done any kind of justice either.

With Oppo in the midst they have national team strike force but he is playing hide-and-seek, going in and out of the team - if not for a double-yellow suspension or then for an injury. Perhaps Father Time is taking a toll on the weary joints and limbs.

For lack of genuine attacking midfielder now that Oppo is also missing, in most of the games, strikers are starved of services. Tactical discipline is also more relaxed as too much of individual play has cost them goal-scoring opportunities.

Today they meet Maziya in the second round and some weary supporters are already in accusing mood, for the players for lack whole-hearted display and passion, for Mohan’s ineffective tactics. If Maziya sneaks through, big-spending club from Henvairu will have one or two to say about coach’s effectiveness in the dugout!!

Blues help for Dhivehi football

It is a fact that the health of Dhivehi football depend on the wealth of New Radiant Sports Club, the team with the biggest fanbase.  If they are in the driving seat, threatening to get away with league title there is always enough buzz in the stadium. People flock in numbers and the atmosphere is nothing sort of electrifying. If you are looking for proof then look at the stand at the southside of stadium. 

You may have still huge chunks of empty stands but it is a lot better than last year when VB sports( VB Addu fc) was calling shots. It had been a terrible season. VB had all the tops players and the rest were a big mismatch, all the time playing a catch-up. By first round VB could have been crowned the champions. 

Now that Eagles and Vyansa have thrown their hats into the ring with big money, bringing some of the best players available, all the teams are on a level-playing field. It is competitive; the rivalry is getting to heady mix of intoxication.  There is a positive sense of expectation that things are looking bright for Dhivehi football, at least for now. 

Sadly champions VB Addu fc is stuck at the bottom of the table after the departure of some of the big players. What they did only news-worthy was to rebrand the club to VB Addu fc. Other than that they did nothing to get the support from fans, more prominently form the newly-acquired ones.

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.