The Maldives National Football Team, after enduring a 40-hour delay in Colombo due to a cancelled connecting flight, has finally departed for Bangalore. The team had spent two weeks in Japan for training ahead of the SAFF championship and had transited in Colombo before reaching Bangalore.
While in Colombo, the team trained at the Football Training Centre Beddagana, which had previously hosted the Mahinda Rajapaksa tournament in November 2021.
The National Football Team manager, Abdulla Shibau, said that the scheduled practice match against a club in Japan had to be cancelled due to unfavourable weather conditions.
In a message addressed to the Football Association of Maldives, Abdulla Shibau, informed that the decision to cancel the friendly match was made by mutual agreement between the team's referees and coaches due to adverse weather conditions.
Prior to the tournament, the team faced a setback as their top goalkeeper, Mohamed Faisal, had to withdraw from the team due to a knee injury. As a replacement, Ali Najih from United Victory was given the opportunity to step in for the upcoming matches.
The absence of Mohamed Faisal, who played a crucial role in the team's previous SAFF championship victory in 2018 and was recognized as the best player, presents a challenge for the national football team. However, Shareef, the second goalkeeper of club Maziya is a potential candidate to assume the role of the team's goalkeeper due to his impressive performance in the five friendly matches against Pakistan last year.
The SAFF games, hosted by India, have extended invitations to Kuwait and Lebanon to participate alongside the South Asian countries. In the group stage, the Maldives team has been placed with Lebanon, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. Group A consists of India, Kuwait, Nepal, and Pakistan. Sri Lanka, unfortunately, could not take part in the tournament due to an ongoing FIFA suspension.
The Maldives team is scheduled to play their first match in the tournament against Bhutan on Thursday.
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