Macau (MNA) – The captain of the Macau football national team, Nicholas Mario Torrão de Almeida, told MNA that today was a “sad day” for Macau football, following the announcement that the second match of the Sri Lanka-Macau FIFA World Cup 2022 Asia run qualifier was officially cancelled due to the refusal by the local Macau Football Association (MFA) to allow the team to travel to the country for the game.

Despite having won the first leg of a two-leg round playoff with Sri Lanka on June 6 the MFA announced during the weekend that the local team would not travel to the country for the second match due to concerns over the security of the players created by the recent Easter terrorist attacks in the country.

Until today the local football association attempted to have the match moved to neutral ground until today, despite FIFA, AFC and the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) having assured that security for the match and the Macau players would be guaranteed.

Even with proposals by the MFC that it would incur in all the costs for the game to be changed, Sri Lankan football authorities were adamant they wanted the game to take place in their home soil, and committed police and military forces to assure the security of the Macau team.

“We think there were the conditions to go there and represent our country and try the qualification. If we lose in the field, that’s football, but to not be present leaves us disappointed. Football is to be played on the pitch and not in office corridors,” the S.L. Benfica de Macau player – also known as known as Niki Torrão – told MNA.

The striker played for the Macau national team for the first time in a 7-aside international tournament in 2010 in Malaysia, having represented the SAR senior 11-aside team since 2011.

The FIFA decision means Sri Lanka will likely advance to the group round of Asian qualification for the World Cup in 2022, with the FFSL stating that it will ‘wait an official decision by FIFA in few weeks’.

“FIFA will probably now request the MFA to provide all the basis for its refusal to attend the match since it seems the decision will still take some weeks,” the S.L. Benfica de Macau player told MNA.

The decision led to several requests by almost all players representing different age levels of the Macau national team to allow the match to take place with the players willing to take full responsibility for any risks.

A meeting held today between the MFA and players to try and reach a solution also failed, with Torrão telling MNA that the local football governing body was unmovable in its stance, even after a waiver of liability and indemnification agreement signed by 15 players was provided previously.

“They gave us the same explanation as they had provided during their press conference on Sunday, claiming security issues. Players asked why they don’t allow us to assume the risk and they responded that if anything was to happen there would always be a responsible and we could not take this risk,” he said.

The initial plan involved the local team traveling to the island country on Sunday but players even stated that they were willing to take a flight departing from Hong Kong at 10:00pm of today to arrive at 6:00am in the Sri Lankan capital and play the football match on Tuesday, regardless of the physical conditions they would be in.

The decision by the MFA could also incur in a hefty fine by FIFA and a possible ban for the local national team or teams playing in the local championships to take part in official FIFA or AFC competitions, with the consequences possibly milder now that the game was cancelled.

“One thing is to just not appear for the game, fines are much heavier. If the game was cancelled there will be sanctions but maybe not so heavy […] The MFA management assured us it would do everything for the national team and local teams to not be impacted,” he noted.

Before the decision a joint statement signed by 24 Macau senior national team players – including Torrão – 11 U-23 players and 13 U-18 players considered the possibility that if the MFA did not allowed the game to take place they would not represent the local colors again.

When asked about his position now, the local national team captain told MNA that it would depend on the ban imposed by FIFA.

“Nothing else would make sense. I’m 32 at the moment, if there is a two year ban, what can I do to help the team at 34. I can’t speak for other players but a lot were willing [to not play again] […] These days have been very hard for the team. Let’s see what is best for Macau football,” he told MNA.

“This was an historical opportunity for my generation. We were very close to reach our goal. Maybe we wouldn’t be able to get in on the pitch but at least we would have had the opportunity”.