"Legendary Maldivian striker returns to action as national soccer team takes on tough challenge!"

At 19:30 Beijing time, on June 3, Suzhou Olympic Sports Center will stage an intense soccer feast. China's men's national soccer team will compete with the Maldives here in the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian Qualifying Round 40 Group A showdown. The epidemic raging in the country has had a serious impact on the Maldives' preparations for the tournament, as their previous record against China was five defeats, scoring just one goal and conceding a whopping 23, including a 0-5 defeat in the first round of the World Qualifying Tournament. If China wins again in this matchup, they will receive a $2 million bonus for the win. Prior to the restart of the World Qualifiers, the Maldives had a record of two wins and three losses in Group A, placing them fourth in the group with six points. Despite being out of contention for a place in the World Cup final round, they are still aiming for a good result in order to directly qualify for the third round of the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers in China. ! [Maldives](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202105/2021052603564719125001544.jpg) The Maldives are ranked 155th in the latest FIFA World Rankings, with a relatively stable average ranking of 154. Their all-time high ranking was 126th in the August 2006 rankings. The 32nd position in the AFC list suggests that the Maldives are in the middle to lower reaches of Asia. The Maldives have lost all five meetings between the two teams, conceding 23 goals and scoring only one. The only goal was scored in the first meeting in 2001, when the national football team under Milutinovic's leadership won 10-1. The national football team had 43 shots on goal in the whole match, with 16 of them hitting the goal frame, scoring 10 goals, and the only effective attack of the Maldives team scored a goal. China beat the Maldives 5-0 away from home in the first round of the World Qualification Tournament, with Eickson scoring twice in the last 10 minutes and Wu Xi, Wu Lei and Yang Xu each scoring a goal. It was Ickerson's debut with the national football team and marked a historic breakthrough goal for naturalized players in China. At that time, the head coach of the Chinese team was the returning Italian "Silver Fox" Lippi. The Maldives also experienced a change of manager, the Croatian head coach Šegelt left in late December 2019, now the Dutch veteran coach Martin Koopman is in charge of coaching. Koopman has a history with Chinese soccer, having served as assistant coach of Shenyang Jinde between 2005 and 2007, and briefly as head coach when Holden was dismissed. Before arriving in China, the Maldives team's preparation was full of challenges. Due to the impact of the Indian epidemic, the Maldives domestic epidemic is severe. on May 9, the AFC announced that the Maldives hosted the AFC Cup group stage postponed indefinitely, the domestic league was also called off. Despite the difficulties, the Maldives team has no intention of withdrawing from the tournament, they recalled their international players on May 13, but the epidemic has prevented them from conducting outdoor training with the ball. ! [Maldives team training](https://www.ballti.com/UploadFiles/Sinaimg/202105/2021052603564734750001544.jpg) Maldives Football Association (MFA) president Bassam revealed via social media that the national team had to spend most of their time training in the hotel ballroom. Despite the tough conditions, they have improved compared to how the Chinese women's soccer team was treated in Australia last year. The team's legendary striker Ashfaq, who was forced to leave the national team's training camp on May 18 due to his wife's diagnosis of a new crown, has rejoined the team after undergoing a negative PCR test.Ashfaq, 35, has scored 53 goals on behalf of the national team, which is among the top 10 goals scored by active international players in international soccer. The Maldives had previously announced a 33-man squad but the final roster is yet to be finalized due to the temporary departure of individual players. They still have time to make adjustments despite having three matches remaining in the World Qualifying 40, including the June 3 match against China. On May 22, the Maldives national team flew to Dubai on Emirates Airline for a training session, with a total of 25 personnel traveling with the team. Prior to departure, all personnel underwent a nucleic acid test and were confirmed negative before traveling with the team. They will stay in Dubai for a week before entering the country from Shanghai on the 30th on a flight sent by the Chinese side and finally arriving in Suzhou for the tournament. **Maldives' 25-man squad** - Goalkeepers: Hussain Shareef, Mohamed Faisal, Mohamed Shafiou, Ali Naji - Defenders: Akram Abdul Ghani, Samoo Ali, Ahmed Numan, Mohamed Saif, Hussein Sifaou Joseph, Hesham Hassan, Ali Shamis, Ali Shamal Abdullah - Defenders: Imran Nahid, Mohammed Irufan, Hussein Nyhan, Mohammed Umar, Ibrahim Essam, Hamza Mohammed