Valencia living dangerously

It is that period of the season and everybody is saying exactly the same thing. Come the mid-season break, or transfer period, or Euro fun break - which ever name you like to call - that it will be more than a welcome break to strengthen their squad.

More vociferous has been Valencia after two consecutive morale-sapping defeat to underdogs Vyansa and AYL respectively. Though this is something Valencia of late has been producing throughout the last few seasons the manner of defeats have left coach Iqbal under a huge pressure. 

No wonder, for Valencia with a glorious history in terms of how they ruled the roost in national championship in the late 90s and early 2000s, this is like ego-shattering slap on the face, not less than misery of highest order. Iqbal will be forced to do some math if they continue in this fashion for the reminder of the season. Because it may well be the start of a free fall. The imminent fear of relegation threat is already looming. He would not want to tarnish the CV of  his stint as a coach in first division before it had really started.

So he is already talking about strengthening the squad during the break. Whether he will get the kind of players he wants or the African players flocking the Maldivian shore will be good enough only time will tell. Being a keeper he know a good keeper and defense will not be enough when there is no good striker to compliment the outcome.

Can former national team goal-keeping coach be a successful coach as well? We will wait and see….

Is Dhivehi football living on borrowed time?

Deserted: of course now but on match days too

This is not something any of us would have predicted in our dreams but the harsh reality is we are living that moment for quite some time now. 

Football has been played to virtually empty stadium for the last five years and there is real fear football is losing it appeal and soon Galolhu stadium will pull down its shutter.

It hit a nadir last year when VB Addu FC with the expensively brought players dominated on all fronts while remaining teams were playing catch up.  Even the biggest of rivals, Victory and New Radiant could attract less than three thousand when in the 80s and 90s it was always more than seven or eight thousands. 

On match day now Galholhu stadium wears a deserted look. You see less then thousand supporters scattered here and there. Barely hear a sound from inside. It seems a funeral procession is underway. From outside it resemble a haunted castle, an edifice that has been orphaned and left to decay. 

Did we ever foresee this? That football, once such obsessively followed sport, now close ‘on the verge of extinction?’ That it makes no impression on usual football-lovers? Where did it all go wrong? 

Was this part and parcel of modernization and social change Maldives have undergone through that we have no time for diversion of this sort? Or did something more dramatic happen that we are unaware of? Or was it due to the political instability that the country had to experience for too long that is having the negative impact on it?

Whatever it is, something inherently wrong is going on noticed or otherwise,  apart from the usual suspects like 1) clubs taking part in the league are not competitive enough, 2) one or two teams having full bulk of national team players, or 3) when famous clubs like Victory or New Radiant are not performing well etc.

Though New Radiant has finally done something to arrest the damage Galholhu stadium doesn’t not look its old self. Their opening up of purse string and bringing in some good players may have helped them to fill in with more of their supporter but the real buzz of excitement is strangely missing. May be it will take time. Or may be you can never give Dhivehi football a clean bill of health, not again with our ‘Siyaasee’ gene in hyperactive mode.

Maziya need to find their feet before it is too late

If only a football match is over as soon as one team scores Maziya would have been the winner. But that is not how it goes in football and it is all about what happen in those 90 minutes. If you score you need to defend it adroitly and if you concede you must score twice to be on the winning side.  Maziya had nothing going for them and they should blame themselves for the mistakes they should have avoided yesterday against a team of New Radiant’s calibre. 

New Radiant always had advantage over Maziya in terms of the couple of individually brilliant players they had. They were in the mood to do maximum damage and atone for their lethargic performance in the last two games. Whether Ashfaq or Tom, whenever they get the ball they run at Maziya defenders as if they are late for something, leaving them in urgent need of more oxygen.

In contrast Maziya left their management wondering if a more ruthless and refined finisher would have done the job for them. Too many glorious chances went begging, their strikers failing to make the vital connection.  

May be this is the moment Maziya have to seriously consider to test those three foreigners who have joined them on trial. If any of them can turn those numerous opportunities to goal they can surely jump few places up the table easily.

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!!