- Calls for rethink on origin players
Sri Lanka’s recent football resurgence met a brick wall in the form of Thailand on Tuesday (18), as they experienced a chastening 4-0 defeat to the world’s 96th ranked team, amidst the sobering realisation of the gruelling road ahead for them in the world game.
The one-sided AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 Qualifiers encounter at Racecourse Grounds in Colombo according to a slew of former coaches further validated the existing gap between the 193rd ranked Sri Lanka and the top 100 FIFA World Ranked teams.
A few of the former national coaches when contacted by The Daily Morning Sports, were of the consensus that the latest reverse suffered by the hosts should be an eye-opener to the current administrators of the Football Federation.
They called for the Football Federation officials to contemplate the wisdom of banking on origin players for Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the national team’s humbling loss.
The crushing defeat has already sparked a fresh debate on the pros and cons of contracting such players at the expense of their local counterparts to dictate the course of the football trajectory in this country.
It is no secret that the Jaswar Umar-led FFSL relied on origin players of Sri Lanka during the recent past to spark the team’s revival in international football, following decades of mediocrity and being regularly shunned by their faithful at home.
In defence of the incumbent FFSL administration it has to be said that the national team with the influx of the origin players turned a corner and started to scale the FIFA World Rankings from 207 to its current place.
This was achieved for the long-suffering success-starved followers of the game here and for a while it looked rosy on the international front.
During this football upsurge Sri Lanka had also claimed the historic scalp of Turkmenistan only last month at the same venue.
Therefore, going into Tuesday’s clash there was renewed hope among the fans that the South Asian team would be able to overcome Thailand as well for the first time in history.
But, lo and behold the football bubble burst in the most spectacular manner possible as the clinical Thais laid waste to the home team without their regular captain and goalkeeper Sujan Perera.
It was a sorry sight to witness as Sri Lanka despite containing Thailand 1-0 at half-time sensationally unravelled in the second half to lose 4-0 and thereby dash all hopes of qualifying to the Asian Cup in Riyadh.
It was also the first time they had conceded as many goals to an international team since drawing 4-4 against Maldives during the Four Nations Tournament in Colombo in 2021.
According to football analysts some of the decisions taken by head coach Abdulla Al Mutairi on the day had also left much to be desired, and the Kuwaiti national’s decision to play midfielder Garret Kelly out of position also came in for criticism.
Al Mutairi’s tactic to send seven strikers after half time was also sharply criticised and it has been questioned as to which football manager in the world would send that many strikers after half-time while leaving gaping holes in the team’s defensive structure.
Some critics felt that regular skipper Sujan Perera’s absence due to illness was evident from a leadership perspective, but they were of the collective opinion that the loss has laid bare the cracks of the local game in no uncertain terms.
A few even claimed that the defeat has put the artificial football renaissance into perspective and urged the FFSL to take stock of the situation and rethink its future course.
The former coaches were of the view that it would be time for the game’s governing body to have a serious rethink on relying on the origin players for any future success on the international stage.
They insist that the time is nigh instead to open the doors for home grown players to make it to the national team on merit, while restructuring the domestic football setup to meet international standards.