At 19:30 GMT on June 3, the Suzhou Olympic Sports Center will be the scene of a fierce battle as China's men's national team takes on the Maldives for a place in Group A of the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifying Round 40 tournament. The epidemic raging in the country has had a huge impact on the Maldives' preparations, as they have not won any of their past five encounters with our country, scoring just one goal but conceding 23, including a 0-5 defeat in the first round of this World Qualifier. If our team can beat the Maldives again in this match, they will win a whopping $2 million in winnings.
Prior to the resumption of the WC qualifiers, the Maldives were fourth in Group A with six points from two wins and three losses, with all of their victories coming against a weakened Guam side. Despite having little hope of competing for a place in the World Cup final round, the team is still aiming for a good result in order to qualify directly for the third round of qualifying for the 2023 Asian Cup in China.
The Maldives are ranked 155th in the FIFA Men's National Team World Rankings, with a relatively stable average ranking of 154. Their highest ever ranking was in August 2006 at 126th. The 32nd position in the AFC list shows that the Maldives are only in the middle to lower reaches of Asia.
The Maldives lost all five meetings with our team, conceding a total of 23 goals and scoring only one, and all of these matches were World Cup qualifiers. The only goal was scored in the first meeting between the two teams in 2001, when our country, under the leadership of Coach Milutinovic, thrashed the opponent 10-1. 43 shots were taken in the whole match, of which 16 hit the goal box, scoring 10 goals, while the Maldives team's goal was the only effective attack in the whole match.
China beat their opponents 5-0 away from home in the first round of the World Qualifying Tournament, with Ackerson scoring twice in the last 10 minutes and Wu Xi, Wu Lei and Yang Xu each scoring a goal. Ackerson made his debut for the national football team in this match and became the breakthrough goal in the history of Chinese naturalized players in the Chinese team. At the time, the head coach of the national soccer team was returning Italian star Lippi.
The head coach of the Maldives has changed from Croatian-born Schegelt to Dutch-born Martin Koopman, who will celebrate his 65th birthday on June 5th. In fact, Koopman has a history with the country's soccer, having served as assistant coach of Shenyang Jinde between 2005 and 2007, and briefly as head coach when Holden stepped down.
Before coming to China to prepare for the game, the Maldives team encountered a lot of difficulties. The spread of the epidemic in India has led to a grim situation in the Maldives, and on May 9, the AFC announced that the group stage of the AFC Cup scheduled to be held in the Maldives would be postponed indefinitely, while the domestic league was suspended after 14 rounds of matches, and there was even a time when some people suspected that the Maldives might pull out of the World Qualifier and the Asian Cup qualifying matches. However, the Maldives side did not give up, they called the international players to concentrate on May 13, but due to the seriousness of the epidemic, outdoor ball training has not been able to be carried out.
According to Maldives Football Association (MFA) president Bassam on social media, the Maldives national team was mostly confined to training in the grand ballroom of the hotel where they were staying, or to short-distance dribbling and pressing in a circle. Despite being treated better than the Chinese women's soccer team was treated in Australia early last year, things are still tough.
The team's legendary striker, Ashfaq, was forced to leave the national team's training camp on May 18 and undergo self-quarantine at his mother's place under anti-epidemic regulations after his wife was diagnosed with a new crown. After a negative PCR test, he has rejoined the team and traveled with them to China. 35-year-old Ashfaq currently has 53 goals for the national team, which is among the highest number of goals scored by active international players in international soccer.
The Maldives had announced a roster that included 33 players, but the final roster is yet to be finalized due to the temporary departure of individual players such as Ashfaq. The team still has some time to make adjustments as there are still three matches left in the World Qualifier 40 and the first match is against China on June 3rd.
On May 22, the Maldives national team flew to Dubai on Emirates Airlines for training, with a total of 25 people traveling with the team. Prior to departure, all the team members underwent a nucleic acid test and were confirmed negative before being allowed to travel with the team. They stayed in Dubai for a week and then took a flight sent by the Chinese side to enter the country through Shanghai on the 30th, finally arriving at the Suzhou tournament. (Source: JOYCE)
Maldives 25-man squad
Goalkeepers: Hussein Shareef, Mohammad Faisal, Mohammad Shafi'u, Ali Naji
Defenders: Akram Abdul Ghani, Samu'ao Ali, Ahmed Nouman, Mohammed Saif, Hussein Sifaou Joseph, Hesham Hassan, Ali Shamis, Ali Shamal Abdullah
Forward: Imran Nahid, Mohammed Irufan, Hussein Nyhan, Mohammed Umair, Ibrahim Essam, Hamza Mohammed
