On the evening of May 20 local time, Maldives Football Association (MFA) President Bassam released a short video through his personal social media channels, which revealed that the Maldives national team had to temporarily shift their training venue to the Grand Ballroom of the hotel where they are staying due to the new coronavirus outbreak. This particular mode of training has been going on for many days, posing a considerable challenge to the Maldives national team's preparations for the 40-team tournament.
According to the latest data released by the Maldives government health department, during the day from 18:00 on May 19th to 18:00 on May 20th, there were 691 new confirmed cases of Neo-Coronavirus in the Maldives mainland, in addition to the 1,503 cases confirmed after previous tests, totaling 2,194 new confirmed cases. Of these, up to 1,698 new cases were reported in Male' region.
In the face of such a dire epidemic situation, all activities in public places in the Maldives have been suspended. The national team's preparations for the 40-team tournament have also been hit hard. News from the Maldives indicates that out of the 33 players in the latest Maldives national team training session, a player has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus.
Martin Koopman, the Dutch head coach of the Maldives team revealed in an interview, "We are currently staying in a very beautiful hotel in the Maldives. The team can only train indoors here to maintain fitness. The match (Top 40) is still going to be played as normal, but the situation is very bad. We have players in the team who have been infected with a virus.
Koopman further said, "The Maldives Football Association has done everything possible to assist the team in creating good conditions and atmosphere for preparation, but the team has not been able to train at the training ground for five weeks. One can imagine the condition of the players. Next, we will have to travel to the training ground after we arrive in China. As a team, as a collective, we have been working hard, but this situation really can't continue. Now, we have to drop some of our players and the coaching staff is trying to find a solution. However, from the point of view of preparing for the World and Asian Cup qualifiers, this preparation is just too much."
As seen in the video released by Maldives Football Association (MFA) President Bassam, the players had to do their physical exercise indoors due to the ban on outdoor activities in the Maldives. For this reason, the hotel vacated the banquet hall for the players to have ball activities. As for tactical training, it was not possible.
