or a team reliant on players from
a disrupted domestic league that
has barely begun, Maldives coach
Petar Segrt was pretty pleased
with his side’s start to the World
Cup qualifying campaign.
Segrt’s squad travelled the 8,000km to Guam
for their opening Group A game in the second round
of Asian qualifying without five players. Goalkeeper
Hussain Shareef and midfielder Hussain Nihan could
not get visas, while two others did not travel due to
personal reasons. However, the biggest loss was that
of midfielder Ibrahim Waheed, who lost five
members of his family in a tragic water-
sports accident on the eve of departure.
Maldives won 1-0 with a goal from
Ibrahim Mahudhee and afterwards the
Croatian-born German coach said: “We
won that game for Ibrahim, but we lost
a lot of energy on the trip.”
Segrt’s charges were in action again five days later,
playing at home to China and their 2006 World Cup-
winning coach Marcello Lippi.
“We would have liked to make a point but we need
to be realistic,” admitted Segrt. “They have one of the
best coaches in the world, but after 30 minutes he
was a little surprised as the game was still 0-0.”
The visitors, who were backed by a large travelling
support, won 5-0 in the end but needed two
second-half penalties and a 90th-minute goal from
naturalized Brazilian Elkeson to secure victory against
a dogged Maldives.
“We are very satisfied,” added Segrt. “For players
from a small country who have not trained for six
months it was a big success.”
The lack of match action is a sore point for Segrt,
who arrived in the Maldives last year with formerGeorgia defender Gela Shekiladze as his assistant.
And the duo immediately surpassed all expectations
by winning the South Asian Cup, beating India 2-1
in the Final, only for the domestic game to come
grinding to a halt.
“After the win last year, football was in a very
good way,” says Segrt. “In the country there was
unbelievable euphoria about football. But then the
liga stopped because there were money problems.”
The delayed start of the local Dhiveni Premier
League was perhaps no surprise given that political
infighting meant FIFA had to appoint a normalisationcommittee to run the game as recently as 2014.
“Six months complete break,” fumes Segrt at the
memory. “For professional football it’s very difficult
and unbelievable.”
July’s Indian Ocean Games came only a month
after a belated league kick-off and, to give game time
to rusty young players on the fringes of the national
team, Segrt and Shekiladze took a side of under-23
players to the tournament in Mauritius and lost all
three games. “With only four days preparation for
this tournament it was too short a time,” admits Segrt.
At least he was able to take his team away to a
training camp in Sri Lanka before the World Cup
qualifiers, and despite the withdrawals and jet lag he
remains happy with three points from two games.
With a trip to UAE to face Syria followed by games
against Guam and Philippines at home, Segrt is
hoping to sneak past China or Syria to grab a place in
the next phase of qualifiers.Delay does no harm
World Cup starts with a win despite lack of league action
with a hat-trick in Qatar’s 6-0
victory over Afghanistan.
SOUTH AFRICA: Madagascar pull
out of a friendly against South
Africa on Saturday, blaming the
outbreak of xenophobic violence
in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
WORLD CUP ROUND-UP: In the
opening round of Asian qualifiers,
Palestine and Mongolia manage
shock victories, beating Uzbekistan
and Myanmar respectively. In Africa,
Somalia beat Zimbabwe 1-0 for a
first-ever win in the competition.
Friday September 6
CAMEROON: A two-time Africa
Cup of Nations winner with
Cameroon, Samuel Eto’o retires
at the age of 38.
EURO ROUND-UP: Second-half
sub Donyell Malen celebrates his
first cap with a goal in Holland’s
4-2 victory over Germany in
Hamburg. Slovenia surprise Group
G leaders Poland with a 2-0 win.
MEXICO: In a rematch of this year’s
WORLD SERVICE
Dream debut...Holland’s Donyell MalenF
All square...River Plate’s
Cristian Ferreira (in
white) and Sebastian
Villa of Boca JuniorsChallenge...Maldives’ Ibrahim
Maldives Mahudhee (in red) taking on ChinaSTEVE MENARY
“Six months complete break. For
professional football it’s very
difficult and unbelievable” Petar Segrt