Sri Lanka Football Federation President confident of beating Azkals

The president of the Sri Lanka Football Federation, Hon. Sarath Weerasekera, a Member of Parliament has expressed confidence that Sri Lanka will beat the Azkals Philippine national team in their home-and-away matches in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge.

The first match will be played at the Sugathadasa Stadium which has a capacity of 25,000 on June 29 while the return match will be played at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on Juky 3.

Weerasekera, a former Rear Admiral in the Sri Lanka navy in response to questions from the Philippine Daily Inquirer said he was “very positive of beating the Philippines on aggregate” and that an intense “two week training will suffice.”

However, a pool of players not included in the Sri Lanka team that played recently in the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification round in  Nepal has been training for the last two months in “a residential training camp.”

In the tournament Sri Lanka lost to North Korea which played in the last World C up 4-0, dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Afghanistan when the reserve goalkeeper made a costly mistake and held Nepal which finished second and qualified  behind North Korea to a 0-0 draw.

While promising to “play attacking football” against the Azkals  the Sri Lanka Football Federation president indicated the team was prepared “to adapt depending on the opposition strategy.”  He said the team would rely on “quick counter-attacks and composite play up front.”

The Football Federation president said Sri Lanka “is a young team and is improving steadily. It did not qualify in the Nepal tournament  but showed promise” even as he revealed that the federation is “into a talent hunt for more new faces to add to the World Cup qualifier.”

The coach of Sri Lanka is Jang Jung of South Korea who has been handling the squad since October 2010. The coach took what was described as a “newlook” team on a three week tour of South Korea on an extensive training program last year  with assistance from  the Korean Football Association.

The team played seven training matches as a buildup to the pre-Olympics tournament and the AFC Challenge Cup qualifying round matches. The team had a blend of youth and experience with an average age of 23 and was led by team captain and defensive specialist W. D. Rohana Ruwanthilake

MP Weerasekera said that while cricket is the No,. 1 sport in Sri Lanka which finished runners-up in the recent World Cup of Cricket, “football is No. 2 alongside rugby but football is more widespread  and played among rural schools especially in the North and East war torn areas.”

Asked whether he had learned anything about the Azkals, the Member of Parliament replied “Yes. They are a promising team in Asean (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and have qualified to play in the AFC Challenge Final rounds. Source