Today (17), Sri Lanka will welcome international football action after two years since the 2021 Four-Nations tournament.

Sri Lanka after suffering a 3-0 loss at the hands of Yemen in their opener last week at the AFC FIFA 2026 Qualifier last week are set to put on a comeback show in front of the home crowd today (17) at 3 p.m. as they play the return second leg at the Colombo Racecourse.

Dubbed as “ Golden Army”, Sri Lanka are ranked at 202 and Yemen at 156 in the FIFA World rankings. Harsha Fernando of Sri Lanka Air Force will lead Sri Lanka as captain.

Speaking at the pre-match media briefing on Monday (16), Yemen’s coach Miroslav Soukup said the playing conditions in the venue (Racecourse) is in excellent standards and they look forward to a strong fight back by Lankans.

“Half of our team is Under 23 years of age and they are a talented bunch. In terms of weather, we love it if it rains. Rain is good for us, because it rarely occurs in Yemen and the Gulf ”, said a humorous Miroslav who hails from the Czech Republic, this is his second coaching stint with the Yemeni outfit.  

In his statement to the pretty vocal local media personnel at the presser, Sri Lanka’s head coach Andy Morrison said: “ Yemen is a strong team, our (SL) preparations are less but we are on the front foot and with sheer resilience I think gradually we can become the best team in the region”.

Sri Lanka’s football body is further on the lookout process to bring down more overseas club / college players of Sri Lankan origin to don the national jersey and improve the competitive nature of the game in the island nation. Even though tagged as Asian football’s lowest-ranked nation, Sri Lanka is seeing glimpses of hope on getting back on the right track with the recent lifting of the FIFA ban.

Limited tickets are available at the Racecourse entrance today (17). According to the tournament organisers, all ticket collections will be contributed to the National Sports Fund.