Coach Istvan Urbanyi has stated that the Maldives was defeated by Afghanistan last night in the Diamond Jubilee International Tournament due to a tiny mistake that was made.
In the second match of the four-team tournament, Afghanistan defeated the Maldives with a goal scored in the 80th minute of the match.
Speaking after the match, Urbanyi said that after staying a long time without playing international matches, he was very happy with the courage shown by the players against a strong team.
While the Maldives was playing well, Afghanistan's Roman Fazi scored a goal in the 80th minute of the match from a chance created by the team.
Urbanyi said that the goal went against the Maldives due to a small mistake that was made. He noted that it was disappointing to concede that goal while playing well.
"Losing a match in this manner is definitely a very sad thing," he said.
Urbanyi highlighted that despite the poor match result, the team spirit and the determination to move forward were very clearly seen on the pitch.
"It is because this match went by without getting a better result than this due to the single tiniest mistake made." The coach said.
According to him, the Maldives received two or three golden opportunities to win the match between the 60th and 70th minute of the game. However, those opportunities went unutilized.
Urbanyi stated that the passion and energy seen from the team's players was the biggest hope gained today. He said that the passion within the team was revealed especially by the conversations held among the players after the match ended.
"One of the things that made me happiest was seeing the players talking among themselves about how to reach the final when they gathered in the middle of the pitch after the match. They definitely want to do that," Urbanyi said.
In its second match, the Maldives will play against Pakistan on Thursday afternoon. Playing against the Bangladesh Under-23 team yesterday afternoon in the first match of the tournament, Pakistan settled for a goalless draw.
