Maldives National team head coach downplays Maldives chances against the upcoming friendly against Malaysia.

Maldives ranked 151 in FIFA rankings play against Malaysia tonight at 2030 hours Malaysia time(1730 Maldives time). Malaysia ranked at 169 are hopeful in this friendly match.

The hosts have beaten Sri Lanka and Cambodia recently. "Every game is important, even the friendlies. This is our last test before the Suzuki Cup so it will decide who gets to go to the tournament. So the players will be motivated to do well." said their captain Zaquan Adha Abdul Razak.

Maldives coach, however has played down his side's chances calling Malaysia the favorites. The coach also commented how how young the Maldives team is and calling the team one for the future. With Mohamed Faisal out injured, Maziya's 20 year old goalkeeper Hussain Shareef will start the game in his place. The young goalkeeper attended the press conference with the Maldives Boss.

"We brought 17 year old and 19 year old for this match. We did not have training for six weeks and it's only here that we were able to have one or two sessions. We will see what we can do with just one training but I can't do magic. These are semi professional players but we'll try to do our best in the game." said Segrt speaking to the media.

Petar Segrt took the SAFF Championship medal from his pocket and wore it halfway through the press conference. The coach said we have to forget this, "Because tomorrow you will not respect us for this, we must be ready and I told the players, forget what happened in this (SAFF) Suzuki Cup. We must start from zero. After this kind of win you have to start from zero" he said.

All the players have been playing for their clubs in the busy final weeks of the Dhivehi Premier League. It is normal for players to go into international matches during these breaks without many practice sessions.

Photo: ImagesMV