Maziya sports and recreation face off against Abahani limited Dhaka at the national stadium in Male’ in what will be a crucial game for Maziya as the Maafannu based club look to go beyond the group stage into the knockout stage of the competition for the first time.

Maziya sit 1^st in group E with 9 points from 4 games while last year’s semifinalist Bengaluru are in 2^nd place with the same number of points. Bengaluru travel to Kolkata to face against Mohun Bagan, a match the mariners will not take for granted.

Speaking before the match coach Marjan Sekulovski of Maziya sports club said that tomorrow’s match against Abahani is the beginning of job as they try to qualify into the knockout stage.

“They have 12 players from Bangladeshi national team and some very good foreign players. This is going to be a difficult match. They have started showing their true potential. We have to win this game and go to Bengaluru on the 31^st of this month and get a positive result”.

Abahani limited Coach Drago Mamic said he still has fond memories of the 2014 AFC challenge cup and that he took Maldivian football to new heights during his time as coach of Red Snappers but said that he is now focused on winning against Maziya. Abahani has improved much since Mamic took over and beat favorites Bengaluru in the last home game with an impressive display.

Speaking to the media Mamic said “Most of the AFC matches are decided by foreign players. Maziya have good foreign players and their Maldivian players are also good. We want to win against Maziya the win against Abahani was a huge confidence booster.” said Mamic.

Mamic was angered as Abahani players had to wait 4 hours in the airport because of problems with visa of some players. “AFC and FIFA need to solve this” said Mamic.

Abahani face the game without Nasir Chowdhury while Maziya are boosted by the return of left back Milos Kovacevic.

Match kicks off at 4pm