THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Having had quiet celebrations to ring in the new year, India and Afghanistan have very nearly pledged to enter the pitch at the Greenfield Stadium here ready to fight perhaps the battle of their football lives.
But off the field, the atmosphere has been one of warmth and reverence, which is only politically correct given the cordial relations between the two countries. Playing for the last time under the South Asian Football Federation, defending champions Afghanistan want to make it memorable by winning the title yet again, but without losing out on friendship and a sense of fair play.
On the new year’s day, the teams spent time together at the team hotel on Friday.
Stressing the powerful message of unity among humanity that football can bring about, Afghanistan’s German coach Peter Segrt said: “It doesn’t matter who wins tomorrow. It was a pleasure for me and the players to be here. Yesterday morning, the first morning of the year, the Indian coach and myself were speaking about our relations when we saw the players standing on different sides. And then we had the idea to put our teams together and every player from Afghanistan congratulated every Indian player, and vice versa, on the new year. A greater fair play is not possible. For 90 minutes tomorrow, we will be fighting on the field with each other. But we can never forget Indian people.”
Accompanied by captain Faysal Shayesteh, Segrt refused to touch the trophy displayed at the pre-match press conference venue, as the photographers queued up. “We don’t touch it, because we know we have to win to deserve it tomorrow,” the Afghan coach added.
Terming the tremendous support from Afghanistan people as “unbelievable”, Segrt revealed that the team had received calls from the country’s president.
The one “problem” with the SAFF Cup, he pointed out, pertained with his team having to play four matches as against three for India. The anomaly was necessitated because of the last minute withdrawal of Pakistan citing security reasons.