3-0 score hard to believe seeing Maldives' quality of play on the field: Mohan

National team coach Mohamed Shiyaz (Mohan) said he finds it hard to believe that Maldives lost to Tajikistan with a 3-0 score after seeing the quality of Maldives' playing.

Post-game, Mohan said that aside from the result, the team played quite well. He praised the hard work displayed by the players and the support from the crowd.

"If I were to look at this match as a whole, I am satisfied with the hard work and how the players played on the field," said Mohan during the post-match press conference.

"In all honesty, I find it hard to believe the 3-0 score after seeing the way our team played. They played at a much higher quality than that.

As per Mohan, two of the three goals were easy to score. The coach said that those two goals were scored due to the small mistakes his players made.

He stated that the only way to fix these types of mistakes while playing against strong teams is to play more friendly matches on home and away turf.

"We will not be able to fix these small mistakes if we do not play more friendly matches. The more matches are played, the more mistakes are made and fixed," said Mohan.

Mohan also said that Tajikistan felt relief by scoring an early goal.

Mohan explained their game plan, where their thought process was to hold Tajikistan back for 30 minutes, then move forward and capitalize on opportunities.

However, Manuchekhr Safarov (Manu) of Tajikistan secured the lead for them in the fourth minute of the game. He scored via a penalty that rebounded and got to the ball faster than the Maldivian defenders.

As per Mohan, Maldives could have held back Tajikistan without conceding the first and third goals. He also stated that if they had not conceded so early, their playing would have been even better.

He repeatedly said that those mistakes can only be fixed by playing more friendly games.

"We need to play more matches, both home and away. The players experience hesitation due to a lack of matches. They do not trust themselves. They tend to lose possession easily," said Mohan with detail.

"Like how an opposing player is on the field. Our players lose trust in themselves and have that fear when they are receiving the ball. Those kinds of things can only be fixed by playing more matches."

Mohan said that he has put in a request to the FAM for the team to play more friendlies. He hopes that the Sports Ministry and FAM work to make such arrangements in the future.