Petar Segrt, Maldives Head Coach has said "we are not afraid of nobody".

Speaking to popular football website MaldivesFootball, Maldives head coach said that Sri Lanka has had excellent results against Bangladesh and Lithuania. The Croatian tactician also spoke of Sri Lanka's advantage of having played their first game already. Sri Lanka lost their first game against India. India dominated the game winning by a 2-0 margin. 

Meanwhile Sri Lankan's coach Packeer Ali has said in the press conference, after the game that he believes Sri Lanka can beat Maldives. Segrt also has said that Sri Lanka needs to be respected though he doesn't fear anyone.

India has send a mixture of their youth team most notably their under 17 players that played for Indian in the Under 17 World Cup. Segrt claims that Indian under 19's victory over Argentina under 19 show how strong India is. India has sent a youth squad to SAFF Suzuki Cup this year. Indian nevertheless beat a resilient Sri Lankan side 2-0 in their opening match. 

Maldives will play their first game against Sri Lanka today(7th September) at 1800hours. Maldives second game is against India on the 9th. Maldives has left influential players behind this year including captain Ali Ashfaq(Dhagandey), Mohamed Umair, Ismail Easa(Messi), Ahmed Rizvan(Rizey) and the former vice captain Asshad Ali(Adubarey).

The Nation is hopeful as similarities to the 2008 winning team is apparent. Maldives captain Akram Abdul Ghani(Aku) has previously called the nation to keep faith in the team. After a 25 day training camp in Qatar, Maldives is set for tomorrow's opener.