Sri Lanka football team ‘mentally strong’ after five weeks of training

After almost a year of inactivity, the Sri Lanka football squad is gradually recovering after five weeks of training, according to Andrew Morrison, head coach of the Sri Lanka national team.

Football Sri Lanka (FSL) announced a squad of 23 players yesterday as the national team is scheduled to play two matches against Yemen on October 12 and 17 (home and away) as part of the FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary competition and AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers.

Yemen is in 157th position and Sri Lanka 207 in the FIFA world rankings. Morrison said yesterday in a press conference held at the Colombo Football House that although Yemen is higher than Sri Lanka according to the World Ranking, “The strength and winning mentality of Sri Lankan football players is high despite playing against a higher ranked team,” said Morrison at a press conference at Football House yesterday.

The first leg on October 12 will be held in Saudi Arabia and the second leg on October 17 in Racecourse ground, Colombo.

The FSL Executive Committee has decided to award a bonus of Rs. 750,000 to each player of the Sri Lanka team if they win both matches and qualify for the second round.

FSL President Umar Jaswar predicts that the Sri Lankan team will win the matches by 1-0 in Saudi Arabia on October 12 and 2-0 in Colombo on October 17.