Ali Thameem
We are at the midway point of the inaugural SAFF Futsal Championship. Nothing has been truly decided yet. But based on what we witnessed in the three dominant victories by Maldives, there is more reason to be optimistic than to think otherwise.
From the opening whistle, the Maldives team has treated this championship as the pivotal event it is turning out to be.
It might be called a championship, but it is a round-robin league with no knockout stages to follow, making it less complicated to predict what’s to come.
Should everything go in the country’s favor – that is, if Bangladesh and Pakistan run into a draw this evening – Maldives could be guaranteed the trophy, given that the Red Snappers defeat Nepal earlier in the evening.
Wins against Nepal tonight and Bhutan on Saturday would be enough to seal the title, even before the clash against Sri Lanka.
For a debut SAFF Championship campaign, fans of the Maldives could not have asked for more. All things considered, the Maldives have the highest likelihood of returning home with the trophy.
Three wins in three games, an eighteen-goal tally, and leading the table, Maldives have not just a statistical advantage, but one of psychological advantage as well.
In all fairness, Pakistan and India were no ordinary opponents, and neither were Bangladesh.
But the commanding win after dominant win in every one of those three games showed just how influential the Maldives have become in South Asian Futsal.
Today’s game, however, is where Maldives will truly be tested. Nepal are unbeaten. They bring with them a different kind of challenge. They are not as open defensively as Pakistan, nor as transitional as Bangladesh. They are content to sit in games and let them stretch late.
Nepal is also the strongest side besides Maldives, both in performance and on the FIFA Rankings. Maldives are at 109th in the world, the highest among SAFF nations. Nepal is at a close second, at 114th. They are the only team besides Maldives that is yet to be defeated.
Maldives have been keen to take control of the game early on. Nine of the combined thirteen goals scored in the first two games have come before the half-time whistle. Although the goal from Imran was what separated Maldives from India at halftime on Tuesday, there was never a time in the entirety of the three games that Maldives seemed not to be in control of the game. They were never triggered by panic, or overcome by complacency of wide goal-margins. Even when the margin has grown, every single player seem to be in hunger for scoring more.
There is also a wider point worth making. For years, Maldivian futsal has lived in the shadow of the eleven-a-side game, even when futsal had garnered far more popularity among the Maldivian public. A gold medal in the biggest stage of South Asian futsal would send a strong message to the powers that be.
In spite of not having an indoor stadium to practice in, futsal remains one of the biggest – if not the single most revered – sport in the country. It has proven worthy of every Rufiyaa spent on the sport.
Because what this tournament is showing is, Maldives have become the most feared opponent for our South Asian counterparts. In fact, the dominance shown in the first three games mean Nepal and Bhutan have every reason to consider Maldives the biggest threat for them to face in the championship.
Despite limited resources and a far smaller pool of players to draw from than any of the opponents, the Red Snappers are demonstrating once again – as they did in football at the SAFF Championships in 2018 and 2008 – that when preparation and player chemistry meet unhindered patriotism, size does not matter when aiming to reclaim their mark on the region once more.
Nothing has been won yet. A single lapse can still change the complexion of the table. Futsal has a way of turning things around in far more unpredictable ways than in most other sports. Conceding of five fouls and the penalties that follow, red cards and a lapse in defensive judgement have a habit of appearing without warning in futsal.
This could be a fairy tale in the making. This could be the year the FA finally reaches the standard we hold it to.
And most importantly, this could be the first blossom of a long overdue spring for the game. A time when fans of the Red Snappers can finally start dreaming of glory again.
