When the Croatian-born German Petar Segrt was appointed as the Head Coach of the Maldives national football team, supporters were initially wary.
They had good reason too.
The previous short-lived reigns of Ricki Herbert and the late Darren Stewart started promisingly before petering out with a whimper, resulting in premature termination of their contracts.
Segrt arrived as a man who was familiar with the South Asian football scene, having managed Afghanistan and had even lead the team out against Maldives in the 2015 SAFF Suzuki Cup. It might have been a bit of a dead rubber match as both teams had already sealed a place in the semi-finals, but he handed Maldives a footballing lesson that day, thrashing them 4-1 in Trivandram.
Afghanistan practically steamrolled their way to the final, but were undone in unfortunate fashion by hosts India after a number of questionable refereeing decisions swayed the match to the home sides’ favor in extra time.
He was also a popular figure in Indonesian football, most notably for his time at PSM Makassar. The club from South Sulawesi had an extremely loyal fan base, but had lost their way for a number of decades. After Segrt stepped in, he developed an ethos of self-sufficiency, helping to develop a number of players who went on to represent the Indonesian national team and U-23 team. Their fans still sing his name, and they consider him to be the man who laid the foundation for their turn of fortunes.
When Segrt was appointed as the Head Coach of Maldives in March 2018, I wandered into an Afghanistan football forum and inquired about him. This was the response from one of the fans:
“You are very lucky to have him. When he gets a job he becomes very passionate about the team and the people. He wanted to live in war torn Afghanistan to check out domestic talent but the AFF did not let him.“
“Thing is he does not allow corruption to go on that is why the AFF sacked him and if there is that at the Maldives federation then things could get sticky.“
“Under Segrt Afghanistan played the best football we have ever seen and we probably would have made it to the next round (of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers) had he stayed.“
For me at the time, it appeared that we had someone who was very passionate about his job, and a man who lived and breathed football in our hands. He certainly made the right noises during those first few weeks.
He personally went to watch all the Dhivehi Premier League matches and hand-picked players to the squad ahead of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Bhutan, and fans seemed to be genuinely happy with his selections.
And then we saw a glimpse of his ugly side.
At first, when Ali Ashfaq was omitted for missing the pre-match press conference, there was little sympathy for the captain from the general public. I think everyone assumed that this was a one-off thing, where Ashfaq, after apologizing, would be allowed back into the squad ahead of the 2018 SAFF Suzuki Cup.
But then the saga went on, and on, and on, even while it was threatening to disrupt the harmony of the squad.
When Maldives won South Asia’s biggest regional tournament, Segrt must have felt vindicated at his decision to not take Ashfaq. But in all honesty, there appeared to be little cohesion on the pitch between the players who mostly looked confused with the tactics. We could always observe a huge gaping hole between the backline and the front three, a problem that he never seemed to sufficiently address.
As time went on, he appeared to be more concerned with making statements rather than concentrating on results.
In one cringeworthy moment, he flashed out his SAFF Suzuki Cup winner’s medal in front of confused Malaysian journalists ahead of a friendly against Malaysia at the end of 2018.
He then waxed lyrical about a number of youngsters like Abdulla Yameen and Hassan Nazeem, but barely played them. Against the qualifier away at Guam, he brought on Nazeem at stoppage time, then claimed that Maldives played a 17-year-old during the game at the post-match press conference. He was 18.
He oversaw a disastrous Indian Ocean Island Games campaign where Maldives lost all three group matches with scorelines of 4-0, 3-0 and 3-1. It was their worst performance since their earliest days at international tournaments in 1979 and 1985.
He also made baffling tactical decisions during matches, like bringing on Ayaaz Ahmed while Maldives were pushing for an equalizer against Syria. It was Ayaaz’s debut, and this was a man who barely had a kick of the ball for his club.
He also tended to frequently play teenage striker Mohamed Naeem, and the poor boy looked out of sorts as he struggled to come to terms with having been thrown into the deep end.
There were rumors that FAM had been planning to let his contract run out so they would not need to play severance compensation. Apparently Segrt’s level of unpopularity among Maldivians had become too much for them to bear as well.
Alas, after yet another disastrous tournament, this time the 2019 South Asian Games where the Maldives Olympic side finished winless (2 defeats, 2 draws), FAM decided to discuss the situation with him and Petar Segrt’s reign finally came to an end.
The good, and the bad
It’s easy to fill this post with criticisms, but we are a neutral platform that always attempt to reason out arguments.
Firstly, even though his time in charge was littered with controversy, I do personally believe that he tried to change certain aspects of our football in a positive manner.
I suspect that his feud with Ashfaq initially began as a way to demonstrate to the public that no man was greater than the team. Looking at his teams of the past, this particular trait is very clear.
One of the reasons why he was let go from his post at Afghanistan, according to their fans when I visited the aforementioned forum, was because he refused to pick Zohib Islam Amir (aka Haroon Fakhruddin) to the squad.
The former New Radiant defender, who left the club in acrimonious circumstances, was an extremely influential figure in Afghan footballing circles, and was the captain of the national team. However, he kept getting picked despite his poor displays, and Segrt believed that he was disrupting squad harmony.
So we can notice a pattern here.
There is no doubt that Ashfaq is the most accomplished Maldivian footballer of his generation, and his skills can still be utilized by the national team even at the ripe old age of 34. But, I somewhat agree with Segrt’s mentality that a team should be greater than the sum of its parts.
No man should be given precedence over the national team, or indeed any club. Unfortunately, the concept of hero worship is very firmly ingrained in the Maldivian psyche. We saw that when people left rude, degrading messages to the U-16 team, national team players and the FAM administration on social media when Ashfaq got omitted from the team. Every poor performance is blamed on his non-presence, as though he is the only person who is capable of playing football here, and in turn making the other footballers sound useless. And we observe this before every Presidential and parliamentary elections, when we regard certain candidates as the saviors of the country, and actually believe that they have the power to turn Maldives into a superpower, and not electing them would condemn the country into a downward spiral into the abyss.
When a belief is so firmly entrenched within the society, it is extremely difficult, and impossible for someone, especially if that person is a foreigner, to change it overnight.
The other redeeming quality of Segrt was his willingness to give younger players an opportunity to shine. Fueled by his successful experiment in Indonesia, he allowed players such as Hussain Sifaau Yoosuf and Aisam Ibrahim to flourish and become established starters, something which is very unlikely to have happened under previous management.
As for the negatives, unfortunately there are quite a few, but I will attempt to keep them brief.
Firstly, his eccentric personality was never too well received by the Maldivian public. His wild hair, mustache and general mad scientist look did not help when he made those outlandish statements like wanting to help Maldives qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
His inconsistent reasoning for not selecting Ali Ashfaq also made him appear disingenuous. First, he claimed that he needed Ashfaq’s experience in his young squad. Within a matter of days, he said that he wanted younger players to step up, and to change the old guard. Other experiences players like Mohamed Arif received a similar treatment.
Even though I applaud his willingness to build a young side, it was also painfully obvious that we needed some old, experienced heads during some of the matches. The know-how that the veteran players provide was missing in certain games, and one wonders if we would have got better results away at Syria, and at home to China and Philippines if these experienced pros were present.
In the end, he managed to oversee a total of 16 games, and managed only 5 wins, 1 draw and a whopping 11 defeats, which simply is not good enough. In the last 10 games, 8 were defeats, and the only 2 wins were against lowly Guam.
He also took charge of the U-23 side and led them out to the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers, as well as the 2019 South Asian Games. His record stands at 7 matches played, 0 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses.
Moving ahead
So what’s next for the national team?
Obviously, we have to start with appointing a new Head Coach, and luckily we have a Technical Director with plenty of connections to help us.
Simply put, we can either go local or foreign. But it is a lot more complicated than that.
Let’s analyze our options.
Ali Suzain
The current Club Green Streets Head Coach is well-regarded within the Maldivian footballing circles, having won honors at his beloved Victory SC and also Maziya.
In truth though, considering the squads he has taken charge of, the number of trophies he managed to win is quite paltry.
He won the league just once, for Maziya in 2016, in a season where they signed most of the national team squad, and traditional giants such as New Radiant, Victory and Valencia were on a downward spiral.
Most tellingly, his record in the AFC Cup is extremely poor. He took Victory on AFC Cup expeditions in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
In 2010, Victory finished bottom of the group with just 1 win, that coming at home against 9-men Selangor. In that campaign, they lost by 5-0 scorelines in 3 of their 6 matches, and failed to score in 5.
2011 was no better, losing all of their matches and scoring just 1 goal, and unsurprisingly finished rock bottom of their group with zero points.
In 2012, due to the poor performance of the Maldivian sides, Victory had to play in the qualification play-off round, where they lost 3-4 at home to Yemeni side Al-Tilal.
As if the manner of their limp defeats were not enough, Suzain’s mentality ahead of these matches, and comments afterwards, were telling enough to suggest that he does not have what it takes to cut it at the continental stage.
Before all three of their 5-0 thrashings in 2010, he claimed that Victory were going out for all 3 points. After every defeat, he would make the age old excuse of “not having enough information about our opponents”. Yes that’s very convenient, but whose job is it to find out?
He was also tasked with taking charge of the Maldives U-23 team ahead of the 2012 Olympic qualifiers, where they lost 5-0 on aggregate to a poor Hong Kong side.
Suzain is the Maldivian equivalent of Sam Allardyce and Alan Pardew, a safe appointment who will get you results without exceeding expectations. He tends to put his trust in experienced players, and not so much on youth. His style of play is also rather agricultural and not exactly pleasant to watch. While this works well in domestic matches where players come up against physically similar opponents, it does not in continental matches where his players must face teams with varying styles of play and physical stature.
In my opinion, Suzain is not a good choice to lead the national team if we want to qualify for a first ever AFC Asian Cup, but he might well win another SAFF Championship.
Mohamed Nizam
Someone who is a bit more analytical and progressive than Suzain, Nizam has taken Maldivian football by storm in the last few years.
He took TC Sports Club to the Premier League, established them for a few years, and then won it in 2018. His teams play an expansive style of football and relies on an ethos of youth, with several young players breaking into the scene under his management. Some of them have moved on to other clubs and established themselves in the national team.
Players such as Hassan Naiz, Ibrahim Mahudhee, Aisam Ibrahim and Ibrahim Waheed Hassan all improved under his tutelage, which proves that he is capable of bringing out the best out of players.
It is unclear how well he would do on the continental stage, and his only foray in the AFC Cup were qualification matches in the 2018 tournament.
There, TC dispatched Bangladeshi side Saif Sporting Club 4-1 on aggregate, before succumbing to a 7-2 aggregate defeat to Bengaluru FC in the last round.
A stumbling block is the fact that he has just signed a contract with Saif Sporting Club to lead the side out in the Bangladesh Premier League. Mohamed Nizam’s time to manage the national might well come in the future, but I feel that he first needs to thrive in another country, in an unfamiliar league before he develops himself further.
Other local options
Some of the names that come up may be Mohamed Shazly and Ismail Mahfooz.
Shazly in particular is an interesting choice as he is currently the only Maldivian with a Pro-license qualification. The Head of Coach Development of FAM recently took charge of the Maldives U-19 team and won their first ever medal, a bronze, at the U-19 SAFF Championship, but there is the feeling that his skills are best used at his current post in developing aspiring coaches.
Ismail Mahfooz’s teams are also known to play attractive football, but like Suzain, his record in the AFC Cup is rather poor despite having decent squads at his disposal. He has also taken temporary charge of the national team in the past, but unfortunately lost all the matches.
A foreign coach: Another inevitability?
The appointment of another foreign coach looks like the most likely option.
AFC’s latest regulations state that Head Coaches should possess an AFC A-licence, a problem that the Philippine Football Federation faced recently.
With the appointment of Judan Ali as Technical Director of FAM, it is hoped that a proper person will be appointed as Head Coach. In the past, we have often gone with a European who asked for reasonable wages.
If FAM genuinely want the national team to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup, a coach with certain credentials is needed.
1- Must be willing to live in Maldives: It is not a coincidence that the two coaches who were at the helm when Maldives won their SAFF Championships in 2008 and 2018 were working here full-time.
Jozef Jankech, the affable Slovak who masterminded Maldives to their first ever trophy, had a previous stint, and then returned in 2007 to live and learn about the game here. He managed to instill a dynamic, fluid brand of football that was most suitable for the skill set of the players he had at his disposal, and went home a hero after helping his side to win gold.
Similarly, Petar Segrt, with all his flaws, made it his responsibility to watch all the Dhivehi Premier League matches and judge players for himself. Coaches of the past, like Istvan Urbanyi were unwilling to stay for extended periods of time, and only returned to Maldives ahead of training camps. He left squad selection to his coaching staff, and it was clear that some of the players did not really suit his management style.
2 – Have good knowledge and experience in Asian football: Even though the likes of Jankech turned out to be heroes, he was not at all familiar with the Asian football scene, and Maldives’s record on the continental stage was poor even under him.
In order to remain on track with our aspirations to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup, our Head Coach must possess extensive knowledge about our opponents and Asian football in general.
We can notice that teams with similar ambitions such as Thailand and Vietnam have appointed coaches from Japan and Korea with great success. This is because they employ tactics that suit the players by playing in styles that emphasize technique rather than physical strength, and also have information about the opponents, climates and environments of Asian countries.
This is in stark contrast to European coaches who are more familiar with the European coaching models. They are used to dealing with physically bigger players and rely on factors such as areal ability, pace and strength, and their coaching methods do not necessarily translate well in Asia.
Nevertheless, my hope is that we employ an experienced Asian, or even an non-Asian who has spent a considerable amount of time sampling Asian football.
3 – Have a clear style of play: Under the majority of former Head Coaches, we did not really have a distinctive playing style. Instead, these coaches tended to pick the players who were in-form at the time and let them make it up as they went through matches.
We need a good tactician who has a strong belief in his own system. He must also be someone who knows how to translate his ideologies to the players.
He should also possess tactical flexibility to alter his side’s game depending on the flow of the match and the playing style of the opponents, something which recent Head Coaches including Segrt failed to do. And for this reason, it is likely that FAM will have to go with an experienced individual.
4 – Have a long-term plan: Far too often, foreign coaches are employed on short-term contracts and they do not have any intention to work with the Maldives national team for the long haul. We need someone who is willing to move and live here for years to come, someone who collaborates with other projects undertaken by FAM.
The last thing we need is another random European whom no one has heard of to come here, stay at 5-star resorts and leave after a few defeats.
This Head Coach should also be given the reigns for the U-23 team, which can act as a buffer for players transitioning from the U-19 age group to the national team. Currently, I do not believe that the U-23 team is utilized in the proper manner, as they are only brought together right before tournaments.
This way, the Head Coach can work together with coaches of the U-19 and U-16 sides, and will have a clearer idea of the players who are ready to make the step up to the senior team, and this was an aspect that coaches like Segrt struggled with. It appeared that certain players simply were not physically or mentally ready to face the rigors of playing at the top level.
A new era
While we bid farewell to Petar Segrt, we cannot afford to stand still and watch, as we have three extremely important matches left in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers and a SAFF Championship to deal with next year.
In fairness to FAM, they made the decision to part ways with Segrt at the best possible time, as there are no international matches for the next three months.
With a lot of matches still to play in the domestic season, now is the most opportune time to look for a capable individual to take charge of the national team. We need a strong tactician who is good at judging players and implementing a distinctive playing style. And he needs to be appointed without wasting time, so that he gets to personally attend local matches and observe the players closely.
It’s time to learn from past mistakes when dealing with this particular issue.
The Maldivian Football Blog 