CONGRATULATIONS Team Maldives.
Maldives lifts the SAFF Cup for the first time and with it, our first Football Gold.
We have participated in six of the seven editions of this premier equivalent of the South Asia's EURO. The SAFF Championships was launched 15 years ago in Lahore in 1993.
Maldives have played in two elusive finals over these 15 years. Today was our third final. We lost to India 5-1 in 1997 (Kathmandhu). In 2003 we lost again. This time it was to Bangladesh on penalties in Dhaka. The score, 1(5) : 1(3). India have lifted the Cup four times (1993, 1997, 1999 and 2005). Sri Lanka (1995) and Bangladesh (2003) have won one each. Maldives joins the rank today as the fourth winner of this championship's short history.
Haveeru reported 20,000 national flags were bought up by fans in Male' alone on match day. Maldives Colombo High Commission reported selling 4000 tickets to Maldivian fans for the finals. Ashfag (Dhagandey) was chosen Best Player. Fazeel (Oppo) was the highest scorer.
This was a championship that broke records in more ways than one. An unprecedented "home crowd" decended on Colombo for the finals. Security concers were heightened by the presence of a rather unwanted President Gayoom. These concers were however brushed aside by fans who were focused on nothing short of GOLD. Our dynamic fans however went largely unnoticed by the organisers. Sri Lanka won the Fair Play Award. Bhutan virtually ditched a mighty India in the Male' semi-finals last week and went home with their heads high ...naughty...but with no award!
The capital Male' erupted in a frenzy of RED. Team jerseys, flags, balloons and hordes of fans came out for an outing like they had never come out before. The finals were watched on large screens across scores of narrow streets. Male' traffic was diverted to the 5.3 km ring road that runs round the capital. Yes, that's how big we are, but we hit GOLD regardless. The results is testament to how the size of a country may not matter in modern football.
Celebrations continued late into the night with groups of teens, families and friends dancing on moving pickups. Songs blared to the wave of thousands of national flags. Scooters followed in long processions around the ring road. There was screaming and more screaming. We have never seen Maldivians in party mode on this scale! Sunday have been declared a public holiday.
It was in the 87th minute, a mere 3 minutes before full time that Mukthar (2Kilo) bagged GOLD.
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2 comments:
Finally, our boyz have done it!
We have achieved nothing as a nation in living memory, until they did it, and so we thank the boyz with all our hearts! Their labour and hard work (and blood ...) has made this nation to become beloved to us in a strange way! HAIL the Maldivian Football Team!
We are no more interested in the corrupt politicians, who have sucked blood out of the veins of this nation as vampires (starting from the so-called "People's" Majilis). We paid those idiots millions and they gave us nothing and we paid those boyz only a couple of thousands and they had given us much more than the Vampire-Idiots have.
May be we should sack all the idiots and bring the boyz to the Majlis and they will do better than the idiots.
HAIL our Boyz
Love u
CONGRATULATIONS,MOTHER MALDIVES!YOU ARE THE BEST!!LET US CELEBRATE THIS GREAT MOMENT OF GLORY FOR OUR NATION WITH HANDS HELD TOGETHER!!!
-From a homesick daughter of the Maldive Isles-
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