Tajikistan's coach: Maldivian Team has European standard players

Tajikistan's coach, Goran Stevanović, has stated that some players in the Maldivian national team possess the quality to play in European leagues.

Stevanović, who took over as Tajikistan’s coach earlier this month, faced the Maldives as his first opponent with the national team.

The match played today in Malé was the second game for Stevanović, a former coach of the Ghanaian national team, with Tajikistan. His debut match was the first leg against the Maldives, played in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, last Thursday night.

He commented that the Maldivian team played better in the second match compared to the first leg.

"Even though we won the match 3-0, this was a very difficult match for us. We were lucky to win," Stevanović said after the match.

Praising the Maldivian team, he specifically highlighted the good performance of the Maldivian forwards.

"They are very good players. Especially jersey number nine [Naaiz Hassan], jersey number 11 [Hassan Raif Ahmed, Hanna], [and] jersey number 10 [Hamza Mohamed]. Those players can play for any team, in Europe. For example, in my country’s league. To me, they are very good players," said the Serbian coach.

He added that he knew before the match that the Maldivian forwards would pose a threat to Tajikistan. Therefore, Stevanović said he prepared for that kind of game.

He concluded that this was the reason his team focused on holding the ball in midfield and maintaining control of passes.