Sri Lanka meets Maldives in semis

The semi-finals of the SAFF Football championship which is now in progress in Bangladesh will be played today with Sri Lanka meeting Maldives and India meeting the hosts Bangladesh.

This is the third occasion that Maldives meets Sri Lanka in a semi final of the SAFF championship. Maldives was the winning side in the previous two meetings, first a 2-1 win in Kathmandu in 1997 and a 1-0 win in Colombo last year. Sri Lankan skipper Chathura Madhuranga believes that there won’t be pressure on the team whether it is a loss or a win against Maldives.

“The rivalry is gone. The players in both teams are very friendly. So now, there won’t be pressure for us even if we win or lose the game.”

“We know the strikers in Maldives. Ashfaaq (Dhagandey) is a strong and a good player. But we would tell our defenders to hold him.”

“When we played against Maldives in last year, six of our national team players were not included by former coach for various reasons. But now they are in the team and we believe we are stronger than last year. So we are hoping for a win.

The morale of the team is very high and we are confident that we could beat Maldives.”