National team selection pattern suggests it’s an administrative failure

Every time national team squad is announced there are criticism from every corner of the country, especially for not giving the opportunity to young and emerging players.

But the pattern of team selection for Asian Cup and Football Association of Maldives (FAM) silence over the matter suggests it’s more of an administrative failure.

For AFC national team tournaments the confederation requests national associations to register a national team player pool of maximum 50 players and allow the national association to pick players for the tournament from this pool of players.

There is a possibility that FAM failed to register 50 players for Asian Cup and instead registered the current squad that have been selecting for each and every game. Meaning there is no chance that FAM can select any player outside this crop of players.

FAM has never picked any new player for match squad other than the players they selected for the very first game against Palestine.

If this is true by any chance, there will be only four keepers that are eligible to play for Maldives in Asian Cup qualifying; Mohamed Faisal, Abdullah Ziyazan, Shafeeu (Club Eagles) and Mohamed Imran, who retired from national team after Oman game.

Imran’s claim in a daily news that FAM approached him to continue playing for national team strengthens the suggestion that it’s an administrative failure from FAM that prevented skillful youngsters from getting into national team squad.

Those who do the selection can use whatever technical terms they want to justify their selection but nowhere in the world players are being selected for their national teams based on their performance in club trainings.

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