In other team news, Hay said Sarpreet Singh is not available due to a groin niggle he carried into the first game, while centre-back Nikko Boxall has been isolated from the rest of the squad and made to take a Covid-19 test after coming down with an illness.
The outlook is more positive for central midfielder Joe Bell, who missed the Jordan clash with a calf injury but is “highly likely” to be involved against Uzbekistan.
Real spanner in the works this. I think we definitely needed that extra game to continue tinkering and solidify our options looking forward to march and beyond. Hopefully at least getting the chance to train together over the last week might have helped build some cohesion and be enough to give Danny Hay some clarity on squad options.
Gutted, was looking forward to utilizing my day off to get up early and pore over this game ahead of our WC Qualifiers.
Alas, hope everyone involved is alright and no lasting effects for players and/or staff affected by this.
Having twice been positive for Covid yet never having had any symptoms, I don't think these young men have much to worry about from Covid.
I do think it's a risk playing these games in the UAE and Qatar though as they are very busy right now with Europeans getting winter sun and are generally quite lax with Covid rules. It would not surprise me at all if the same happens again in March (as happened in the A-League).
Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites
Argh. I was looking forward to staying up late and watching this.
I know you can get it more than once... but I assume if lots of the squad get it in Feb it's less likely they will be affected come the March (and even June) qualifiers.
I had a dream it was 2-2. We didn't have much much the possession but by God the boys were hanging in there. My disappointment was immeasurable when 350 am rolled around and I realised I had forgotten to unset my alarm. Feel akin to if you waited to Christmas Eve to tell a child that Santa's not coming this year.
