Maldives national football team after 10 days of  preparations is all set to face Palestine in their first hurdle of Qualifying to the Asian Cup in UAE 2019.

Maldives will face Palestine with two very important players missing from their regular line up. Arguably the best football Maldives have ever produced, the legend Ali Ashfag is not part of the squad due to injury and Maldives number one goalie who protected the Maldivian goal over the last 17 years, Imran Mohamed is missing as he had recently retired from International football.

Without a doubt, every single Maldivian will agree with the fact that the absence of these two experienced and legendary players leave a big vacuum to be filled up in the National Team. Nevertheless national coach Darren Stewart is very confident about the team and as he said in the press conferences, if players give their best with supporters being the 12th player on the field, Maldives can produce a positive result in the match.

While Assadh Ali has been appointed as the new captain of the national football team, all the supporters of Maldives national team and football enthusiasts are waiting to see how the team handles the pressure and leadership gaps left by these two experienced players.

Following is the  prediction by Boalha.mv of what the Maldivian starting 11 against Palestine could be.

Without a doubt Mohamed Faisal would be entrusted in the goal as he is the only local active goal keeper in Maldives top eight clubs. In front of Faisal, the back four, while on the left Mohamed Rasheed (Hockey), Ahmed Abdulla (Lily) will be as right side full back. And  to complete the defensive line up Ahmed Shafiu (Shaafy) and Amdhan Ali (Andy) will merge with them. They should be comfortable as a back four, since they have played together many times in the national team fixtures.

Palestine has a strong squad with a number of their players playing  outside their country in strong leagues. According to Assadh Ali (Adey) in the press conference, Maldives will be very focused on defence tonight, Boalha.mv predicts that national coach Darren Stwart may use two defensive midfielders, Assadh Ali and Imran Nasheed (Imma).

In front of them Mohamed Umair (Umee) is likely to be stationed as an attacking midfielder. In the attacking department, none other than last season's golden boot winner and best player of Maldives, Ali Fasir (Sentey) will be entrusted to show his lethal power on the left side while Ahmed Imaz (Aako) will be on the right. As a striker, Assadhulla Abdulla (Asakko) who does not further introduction. Asadhulla was among the best three players of last season while finishing behind the top scorer Ali Fasir as the second best scorer.

On the other hand, Palestine came to Maldives right after a 10 day training camp in Yemen. They won against Yemen in a friendly match by 1-0. The following 11 players might be the starting line up of Palestine tonight.

Palestine line up is predicted by http://footballpalestine.blogspot.com/.

Boalha.mv wishes Maldives National Football team all the very best in tonights match and encourage all the supporters to go to the stadium and be the 12th Player for the National Team.