Selfish game costs Afghanistan
Civil war torn Afghanistan’s SAFF final campaign did not end well. Their German coach instilled Germany’s style and technique, which the physically strong Afghans could not use in the final match. The Central Asian team outclassed Bangladesh 4-0, Bhutan 3-0, Maldives 4-1 and Sri Lanka 5-0 en route to the final where they lost to the hosts India 1-2 despite dominating the proceedings most of the time.
What appears to me is that the players did not learn that wasting of time is suicidal when the team trails. In the first half of the extra-time, the Afghans wasted four minutes what the Indians were seeking. Not only that, they did not lob the balls most of the time into the opponents’ penalty box when time was running out. At least three players were seen playing selfishly and lost the ball possession.
Contrarily, the Indians played their best, because a loss to Afghanistan for the second time in succession would have been fatal to the Indian people’s dream of making India Asia’s one of the leading soccer nations once again, which they were in the early sixties. In 1962 on September 4, in the Asian Games’ soccer final, India beat South Korea 2-1 to take the gold.
Afghanistan will no more play in the SAFF football, because the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has amalgamated them with Central Asia comprising Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Iranian Football Federation was working hard for the said reshuffling.
At the same time, Maldives are also interested to be included in the South East Asian Region (ASEAN). If AFC agrees, the South Asia will be left with six nations only namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
In the other end Bangladesh team’s failure cannot be compensated by any words other than bouncing back. The Tike-taka technique only can compensate. It is because it focuses more on presence of mind than physical strength.
Should our coaches mind for it?
Abdullah Akber
Dhaka
