Ooops, we did not quite make it last night. The Indian coach had a few tricks up his sleeve. He dropped 7 players from the first 11 and ensured a stiff defence after the early goal. Maldives played well, but obviously not quite well enough for a win. The Indian goalkeeper was outstanding and saved the day. We were clueless on how to beat the Indian defence.
Well, that's that! The Maldives team are now confronted with the problem of poor lighting in Colombo and increased tensening of the security situation there. Interim Coimmittee Chairman Shahir assured me that he has submitted an official query into the matter already. I also ran into Mr. Ganesh Thapa at the Nepal/Pakistan match yesterday. He gave me a rather muted response to the light issue. His logic was that he was here in Male' and how would he know what the problem is in Colombo! Intelligent as it sounded, when pressed, he was of the opinion that nothing could be done about it.
Such insights are common from regional football bosses. I remember an incident when an AFC Official got the Maldives to play a final of the SAFF Championships against India without a rest day. That also happened to be in Nepal. Local press reported Ganesh Thapa's praise of our ability to host such events. He is reported to have gone so far as to say that the SAFF have been pressing for a competition here for a long time.
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