SRI LANKA SHOULDN?T BE UNDERESTIMATED
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 04 Apr 2011
Sri Lankan Football Team.
While the Philippine Azkals may be ranked higher than Sri Lanka in the latest FIFA rankings, 151 to 173, the widespread football fever in Sri Lanka next to cricket where the Lankans meet India in the World Cup Final on Saturday, indicates a broad-based pool to draw from.
The Football Federation of Sri Lanka has 47 affiliated leagues and associations with over 300 clubs across the island-nation and over 18,000 footballers playing the game.
Most of the clubs are based in the main cities such as Colombo, Kandy, Negombo anf Kalutara. There are five major football competitions in Sri Lanka including a Premier League with several divisions and an annual FA Cup much like England?s Premier League and Football Association Cup.
In its buildup to the clash with the Azkals, Sri Lanka opened with a two game series against Tajikistan which is ranked 148 by FIFA. Although lower than Tajikistan the Sri Lankan team which will play the Azkals in the first leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifier at the 25,000 capacity Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo on June 29, held their formidable opponents to a 2-2 draw in their first friendly but dropped the second 0-2.
A report from Colombo said the Sri Lankans played a good game, especially the attacking style of play adopted in the last 25-30 minutes which saw many good moves towards the Tajikistan goal.
Sri Lanka led 1-0 at the half on a penalty by forward Kaiz M. Shafraz who was brought down in the box. Tajikistan drew level in the 56 minute with a 40 yard free kick by Robimov Ibragin that crashed into the right corner completely beating goalkeeper Asanka Viraj.
Tajikistan kept the pressure on and netted a second goal via a long range shot in the 76th minute with Viraj was caught badly out of position to give Tajikistan a 2-1 lead although the Sri Lankan goalie made two brilliant saves in the second half.
Not to be denied Sri Lanka?s midfielder Mohamed Zain made a sizzling run and beat the Tajikistan goalkeeper in the 80th minute to even the score at 2-2.
In the second match Tajikistan behind goals by E. Davrojan in the 21st minute followed two minutes later by Vosiev Dilshod overcame the Lankans and even though the home side attacked aggressively they failed to score.
Interestingly, while the Azkals whipped Bangladesh 3-0 in the AFC Challenge Cup, Sri Lanka also beat Bangladesh by the same 3-0 margin last February 20. They actually qualified in 2010 by whipping Brnunei 5-1, Taiwan 2-1 and drew with Pakistan 2-2.
The Sri Lankans finished runners up in the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 and also made the 2nd stage of the Asian Qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup where they lost 0-1 to a formidable Qatar team in the first home-and-away match but were trounced 5-0 in the second.
Sri Lanka also won its first title in the South Asia Football Federation Championships in 1995 beating India 1-0 in the finals. Their biggest win was a 7-1 thrashing of Pakistan in Taiwan on April 4, 2008 and a 6-0 shellacking of the tiny kingdom of Bhutan on December 6, 2009.
Sri Lanka?s biggest defeat internationally was to powerhouse East Germany 1-12 on January 12, 1964 and a 0-11 mauling by Iran in Singapore in 1980.
While the Azkals are loaded with several Fil-foreigners led by the brothers Phil and James Younghusband , crack goalkeeper Neil Etheridge , striker Angel Guirado Aldeguer, Rob Gier, Ray Jonsson and Simon Greatwich, the Inquirer learned that only one young player who saw action in a minor league in England was just named to the Sri Lanka team.
Dennis Maharajan who turns four days before the Azkals match played for Edgware Town which won an unprecedented treble of trophies in 2006-2007 which included the Spartan South Midlands League Premier division, the Football League Premier Cup and the Football Challenge Trophy. A center half, Maharajan was a product of the club?s new Youth Academy as he joined 2007.
The club website reported ?Dennis Maharajan was officially named in the Sri Lanka National squad today. We are very proud that one of our players at such a young age is playing football for their country. Dennis has played 50 games for us so far and looks set to be a very promising player. Dennis joins Paul Killick who is in the American Samoa National squad and Greg Ngoyi for Ethopia. We have a couple of players that have played for England C such as; Rob Blackburne, Chris Ingham, Gavin Hart, Stuart Blackburne and Adam Wallace."
While Sri Lanka is currently ranked at its lowest at 173, at one time it was ranked No. 122 by FIFA in August 1998 and as Azkals coach Michael Weiss has made it clear, the team cannot be taken for granted and he wants to either personally scout the Sri Lankans when they play in Nepal on April 7 or obtain tapes of their matches.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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