Coach Tomas Trucha has said that after an intense match in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge League's Preliminary Stage, Maziya has no time to breathe with two upcoming difficult matches.
Maziya lost 3-0 against Tajikistan's Regar-TadAZ yesterday in the match played at the Male' national football stadium for the AFC Challenge League's qualifiers. Maziya have not been able to enter the Challenge League's Group Stage this time around as well.
According to the experienced coach from Czech Republic who became Maziya's coach on 3rd August, losing yesterday's match after the work put in by the players is deeply saddening.
However, he said that they cannot stay sad for long as they need to prepare for two more challenging matches.
""One night of football cannot change anything. These are just the stages. There are more matches to play. We have a match on the 15th, with the final on the 18th," said Trucha while gesturing to the two matches they have to play against New Radiant in the Cup Winners' Cup.
In the tournament that had a total of four teams, New Radiant and Maziya have assured their places in the final. The cup was played in a one-round league format, with both teams moving to the final as Odi Sports and Buru Sports were unable to win against them.
Odi and Buru will be playing their match on Saturday evening, with the match between Maziya and New Radiant being played at night. The final will be played on Tuesday night.
"We need to regroup once again and move forward. Reason being, the players have lost a match," said Trucha while speaking of their match against Regar-TadAZ.
"The players are not satisfied with their loss. Both the players and I are sad. However, I need to become a leader in my role as a coach. I need to show my players how we can move forward."
During the press conference for the Regar-TadAZ match, Trucha said that he is concerned that he has not had enough time to spend with his team. He said that after yesterday's match, he is slowly learning more about his players and how he can make use of them.
"My biggest obstacle right now is time. I am still learning about my players. I am learning how I can make use of them," said the coach.
He went on to say that as a way to pay attention to the two upcoming matches, he will rotate players for the first match against New Radiant in preparation for the final.
The Charity Shield match that was played on Friday night has officially kicked off the football season. Maziya beat New Radiant 5-3 with penalties and won the shield for the seventh time. Assistant Coach Ahmed Shuzair instructed the team during the match.
Even though Trucha arrived in Maldives earlier, he had not taken the position of Maziya's coach at the time. He watched the match from the stadium's rostrum.
