It came as a sudden shock when Victory submitted a letter to FAM requesting to withdraw from the prestigious FA Cup, where the winner qualifies for the AFC Cup.
There were speculations that Victory may opt to withdraw from the tournament due to financial issue within the club. Coach and players have not been paid their wage for months and country’s one of the most successful clubs survived second division relegation almost at the death of their last game in the qualification.
Victory becoming a very late survivor of relegation is itself an embarrassment for such a huge brand name in the country but their decision to withdraw from FA Cup comes as a much more embarrassment. Even the teams from second and third division have the gut to face top division teams knowing they will be hammered with a goals fiesta and Victory being such a strong name in Maldives football must have the capacity in squad and management to get rid of such an embarrassment.
Victory’s scheduled opponent New Radiant have been preparing for this game at full gear and Victory’s decision would be a huge blow for the energy and time they spent for this game.
If Victory management was able to convince their ‘unpaid’ players to perform at such a high level in the qualification and ensure their position in the top division, simply saying the salary issue is the reason for their withdrawal is not easy to digest. Clubs always get delay in receiving funds from FAM and government authorities and there is no reason for Victory to blame the authorities for their own internal issues. Above all the solution of their internal crisis is not simply deciding to withdraw from a tournament.
This is a time FAM can show everyone their stand in teams decision to withdraw from a game at the last minute. This game might not have such an influence, considering it’s a knock out game and the form of the opponent. But what if a team decided to withdraw from a league game where the opponent can claim the title by winning with a margin of more than two goals and the team decided to withdraw has no impact in their league stand whatever the result is.
This could be the start of something very dangerous and needs to be controlled before it’s too late.
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