National team wraps up camp in Japan, skips friendly
The final squad comprises of 23 players, from five different clubs
The National team camped in Japan ahead of SAFF Championship
The Maldives National Team has wrapped up its camp in Japan for training for the SAFF Championship football tournament.
The team wrapped up training in Japan on Wednesday and is to set off to Bengaluru, India for the tournament from Sri Lanka.
The team departed to Japan for training on June 6.
The SAFF Championship is to be held from June 21 – July 4 in Bengaluru, India.
Although the team was to play a friendly as part of the training, the team wrapped up camp without playing a friendly game.
The training proceeded with the help of Japan’s Football Association for a period of 10 days.
In preparation for the SAFF Championship, the football season was halted after three games were observed by each team in the President’s Cup and the Dhivehi Premier League (DPL).
Following these games, the national team coach, Italian national Francesco Moriero and his aides formed a squad comprising of 30 players.
A 30-player squad kicked off their training for the SAFF Championship, at Galolhu Stadium on May 21. However, the final squad comprises of 23 players, from five different clubs.
A majority of the players are from Maziya Sports and Recreation Club; 14.
The remaining players include three from Super United Sports (SUS), one player from Buru Sports Club, four players from Club Eagles and one player from Club Valencia.
The Maziya Players that made the squad are Hamza “Hampu” Mohamed, Samooh “Samutte” Ali, Haisham Hassan, Naaiz “Dhaadhu” Hassan, Mohamed “Irey” Irufan, Mohamed Faisal, Ahmed “Helmet” Nooman, Hassan “Hanna” Raaif, Ali “Sentey” Fasir, Hassan “Dungaa” Shifaz, Hussain “Kuro” Shifau, Hussain Shareef, Hussain “Nihaat” Nihan and Ibrahim Aisam.
The three players from SUS include Ahnaf Raseed, Ahmed Aiham and Mohamed Nizam.
The four players from Club Eagles are Ibrahim “Feydhoo Ibbe” Mahudhee Hussain, Nisham Mohamed Rasheed, Mohamed Shafeeu and Humaid Hussain.
The remaining two players are Ibrahim Usama from Buru Sports Club and Ibrahim “Ibbe” Waheed Hassan from Club Valencia.
The squad includes players who are competing in a tournament for the first time in the national squad. Football star and former national team captain Ali Ashfaq and Akram Abdul Ghani are not included in the squad this time round as they are currently unfit to play.
Maldives is placed in the same group as Lebanon, Bangladesh and Bhutan this SAFF Championship.
The next group in the tournament comprises of champion team India, Pakistan, Kuwait and Nepal.
Maldives is set to go head-to-head with Bhutan in its first match scheduled for June 22. The national team’s second game will be against Bangladesh, on June 25. On June 28, Maldives will go head-to-head with Lebanon.
This will mark the first SAFF Championship involving teams from outside the region, with Lebanon and Kuwait competing under a special invitation.
India became the champions of the biggest football carnival in the South Asia region, the “Ooredoo SAFF Championship 2021” after beating Nepal two years back. Maldives fell to the third spot in the league table after losing to India that time round.
Maldives brought home the championship for the first time in 2008. The country also brought home the cup in the SAFF championship held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2018. That time Maldives beat India in the finals.
