Sri Lanka, Sept. 9 -- Sri Lanka will need nothing short of a miracle when they face visiting Maldives in the second leg of the South Asian Super Cup at the Racecourse Stadium in Colombo from 5:00 pm today.

Having lost the first match 3-0 at the same venue last Saturday, the Lions must overturn the deficit with a four-goal aggregate swing to lift the trophy. A 3-0 win would force a penalty shootout, but anything less will hand the title to Maldives.

The statistics underline the size of the task. Sri Lanka are ranked 196 in the world and have not beaten Maldives in 23 years. The last victory came in April 2002, when the Lions edged a 1-0 friendly in Colombo.

Since then, the rivalry has been dominated by the Red Shirts. In their last 10 m...