Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

SRI LANKA FACE MALDIVES IN SAFF C’SHIPS

- BY SUSIL PREMALAL REPORTING FROM THE MALDIVES

Sri Lanka will look to conclude their SAFF Football Championsh­ip campaign on a winning note when they confront the Maldives in their last league match at the National Stadium in Maldives tomorrow. Even then, the odds will be against the Sri Lankans as the Maldives are currently placed 158th in the FIFA rankings and have won the SAFF Tournament in 2018 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

In fact, Sri Lanka have defeated the Maldives only on three occasions from out of the 19 matches and have lost seven of those matches with nine games ending in a draw.

However, the 2018 SAFF Tournament encounter between the two teams ended in a 0-0 draw in Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka had the ignominy of going down to Maldives 0-10 in the 2013 SAFF Tournament and Sri Lanka last defeated Maldives way back in 2002 during a friendly encounter.

Sri Lanka have already lost to Bangladesh (0-1) and Nepal (2-3) and their previous match against India ended in a 0-0 draw.

The Maldives have played two matches so far and have defeated Bangladesh 2-0 and lost to Nepal 0-1 in their two previous encounters.

Sri Lanka Skipper Sujan Perera said they have made good progress in the tournament and are confident of defeating the Maldives in their last game.

Meanwhile, Nepal are on top of the points table with an unbeaten record and having collected six points so far.

 ?? ?? Defender Sunil Roshan acknowledg­es Sri Lanka's supporters after the 0-0 draw against India
Defender Sunil Roshan acknowledg­es Sri Lanka's supporters after the 0-0 draw against India
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