SINGAPORE - With less than 33 hours to go till their AFF Suzuki Cup opener against hosts Singapore on Sunday (Dec 5), Myanmar coach Antoine Hey dropped a bombshell as he cast his team's participation in doubt.
At the pre-tournament virtual press conference on Saturday, the 51-year-old German revealed that out of their 27-man squad, four are injured and 10 need to be re-tested for Covid-19 and cannot train a day before the match.
It is understood that there have been initial positive or inconclusive Covid-19 tests within the Myanmar team ahead of this Asean Football Federation Championship.
Hey, who attended the session virtually in his hotel room as he is also a close contact of those who are to be re-tested, said: "This means 14 players are doubtful for the match (against Singapore), and we could end up with just 13 players which include four goalkeepers.
"We hope we have at least enough who are ready to play, and we are not sure we can.
"These are not the best conditions but we are trying our best and we will see what happens in the next 24 hours."
Fifa regulations mandate that a team must have at least seven players on a pitch.
The latest development further compounds matters for Myanmar, who have been beset with political woes back home, with key players like goalkeeper Kyaw Zin Htet and attackers Kyaw Ko Ko and Aung Thu declining call-ups to protest the military coup in February.
In addition, the pandemic and political situation have meant the Myanmar National League did not take place this year.
Hey said: "We have had difficulties along the way... which forced us to make a new beginning.
"To find younger players when there is no league is very difficult. Our rebuilding started in May with a squad that were not competitive (in the World Cup qualifiers) but we learnt our lesson and we have been trying to get them as match-fit and competitive as possible in the past six weeks."
Myanmar had a centralised training camp in Turkey and managed to beat amateur sides Manavgatspor 2-1 and Antalya Hal Spor Kulubu by eight goals, and lost 2-1 to Burundi and 4-1 to Indonesia.
But all things considered, Hey felt the Lions have the clear advantage on Sunday.
He said: "The favourites are clearly Singapore because of the facts. There is a lot of pressure on them because they are also the hosts with 10,000 fans playing against a team facing such circumstances.
"(Calling them) anything else other than favourites is a joke, but anything is possible in football."
