Sidibari
The Maldives national football team resumes training sessions ahead of the upcoming international games.
Two days after the FAM League Cup final, the Red Snappers returned to Galolhu National Stadium yesterday evening. The national team has just three days to practice before flying to Singapore for an invitational friendly game, and then to Australia for the clash against Timor-Leste in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
Speaking on a PSM Sports program, the interim national team coach, Ali Suzain, raised concerns about the timeline of the games, saying he is somehow “supposed to pull off a miracle once again”. But Suzain is confident that his players – the ones who played the League Cup this past month – are well-trained with their clubs and physically fit.
Singapore is ranked 161st on the FIFA rankings, three places above the Maldives. The Southeast Asian country had invited Maldives to play on their home turf this Thursday; the day of Hajj.
Maldives national team will then fly to the Australian city of Darwin to play against Timor-Leste. The game would be the Maldives’ second fixture in the third round of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifications. Maldives had lost 4-1 against the Philippines in the opening game of the group stage played on 25th March.
Timor-Leste, a small nation who got Independence from Indonesia in 2002, with a population about thrice the size of Maldives, is ranked 197th on the FIFA rankings. They had lost 1-0 against Tajikistan in their first game of the group stage back in March.
