The Afghanistan football team, known as the “Lions of Khorasan”, won their first international event by beating defending champions India 2-0 in a fiercely contested Saff Championship final at the Dasarath Stadium on Wednesday.
The Afghan team performed with a combination of confidence, fighting spirit and determination to contain an Indian side that also played at a high level as they attempted to complete a hat-trick of titles. India tested the Afghan defence to the utmost, but led by goalkeeper Mansur Fagiryar, the eventual winners proved too tough to crack
At the last Saff Championships two years ago, India beat Afghanistan 4-0 in the final at New Delhi to lift the trophy, which would have made the result all the sweeter for the Lions, who did not have any sponsors and were unable to arrange any practice matches outside their country in the lead up to the tournament due to financial constraints.
Indian coach Wim Koevermans chose to exclude regular captain Sunil Chhetri from the starting eleven in favour of the more physical Robin Singh. Meanwhile, a fleet of Afghan Parliamentarians arrived in Kathmandu to cheer their team and one of them even reportedly went to the extent of announcing an apartment and USD 25,000 each for the whole squad if they won the match.
Afghanistan took the lead in the ninth minute right wing back Mustafa Hadid went past Indian defender Syed Rahim Nabi into the penalty area and passed the ball onto Belal Arezo. Belal’s passed the ball along to Mustafa Aradozoy, much to defener Arnab Mondal’s surprise, and Mustafa slotted the ball past goalkeeper Subrata Paul.
India answered with a flurry of attacks in which central midfielder Mehtab Hossain and Francisco Fernandez on the right wing were key figures. In the 19th minute, Mehtab provided a long ball which saw the burly Robin trying to hustle past a defender, but Afghan custodian Masur Fagiryar charged out to stop the play.
In the 26th minute, midfielder Arati Izuma’s placed shot from a pass from Francisco Fernandez was too weak to beat Fagiryar. In the 35th minute, Mehtab’s powerful shot was brilliantly saved by Fagiryar and Jeje’s shot from the rebound was saved on the goal-line by rival captain Fakhruddin Amiri.
Chhetri came onto the field as a substitute for Jeje Lalpekhula in the 60th minute and almost immediately scored after a one-two with Francisco but his shot was feeble and easily saved by the goalkeeper.
In the counter attack from the play, Afghanistan sealed the fate of the final, with their second goal in the 63rd minute. Belal Arezo went past Arnab and Gourmangi and had only the goalkeeper to beat, but Subrata did well to intercept the placed shot. However, Sanjar Ahmadi was there to take the ball and chip it over Subrata’s outstretched hands to make it 2-0.
Chhetri fired long range shot in the 65th minute which hit the horizontal bar, but the Indian team seemed to fizzle out after that. In the 79th minute, Lenny Rodrigues’ powerful shot was brilliantly saved by goalie Fagiryar.
