Sri Lanka’s football players are set to further gauge their level in football when they face a stern test against a higher-ranked Brunei Darussalam team in two matches the first of which was played yesterday and the second scheduled for Tuesday.
This is also a move to prepare the team for the South Asian (SAFF) Championship to be held next year.
Earlier, Sri Lanka had a productive FIFA Series in March where they earned a hard fought win over Bhutan and secured a plucky goalless draw against Papua New Guinea.
The matches will likely be Sri Lanka’s final test before their crucial AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifying matches against Cambodia in September.
The games provide a valuable opportunity for Andrew Morrison to assess his squad, experiment with tactics and fine-tune their performance before the qualifiers begin.
Three key players who are currently playing in overseas leagues will not take part in this edition as they were injured during their league games. The players are Jason Thayaparan, Jack Hingert and Claudio Kammerknecht, who are still recovering.
FFSL President Jaswar Umar announced he will drive the team to reach 199 from the current 204 rank by end of December 2024.
If he succeeds in this, it will be after 7 years (2017) the ranking will go below 200.
Sri Lanka has faced Brunei twice before this and won both matches. The aggregate scores stand at six goals for Sri Lanka and one for Brunei. Sri Lanka’s most impressive victory against Brunei was the 5-1 triumph.
Sri Lankan squad:
Sujan Perera (captain), Harsha Fernando, Chalana Chameera, Jude Supan, Rifkhan Mohamed, Waseem Razeek, Adhavan Rajamohan, Dillon de Silva, Sacayaradjy Steven, Leon Perera, Asikur Rahuman, Mohamed Aakib, Woranda Perera, Mohamed Hasmeer, Bharath Suresh, Rahul Suresh, Oliver Kelaart, Anujan Rajendram, Wade Dekker, Mohamad Aman, Kaveesh Fernando, Mohamad Mursith and Shenal Sandesh
Head Coach – Andrew Morrison
