SAFF Football Tournament reaches its climax

Sri Lanka team returned yesterday 

By Susil Premalal 

The last two preliminary round matches of the SAFF Football Tournament will be played at the National Stadium in the Maldives today.

 Bangladesh will take on Nepal in the first game followed by the match between the defending champions Maldives and the last year runners-up India.

The Maldives and Nepal are currently on top of the points table with six points each from their three outings and both teams have suffered one defeat each.

India and Bangladesh are placed third and fourth in the points table having collected five points and four points respectively.

 Meanwhile, India’s Sunil Chhetri and Nepal’s Ali Ashfaq are the top goal scorers of the tournament having scored two goals each. In addition, nine players from five teams have scored one goal each. The two top teams after today’s final round of matches will qualify to play in the final encounter on October 16.

India have won the SAFF title on seven occasions and have emerged runners-up on four occasions while the Maldives have won the title twice and have emerged runners-up on three occasions.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Football Team returned home yesterday and are set to leave for Qatar on October 20 for a three-week special training session.

 The special training session will be held targeting the 4-Nation International Tournament from November 8 to 16 in Colombo.

Football Sri Lanka have also regained the services of Brazilian Marcus Ferreira as their physical  training coach until 2023.