KABUL: Afghanistan’s action-starved football fans are predicting a morale-boosting victory for the national side in their first home game for 10 years when they take on Pakistan Tuesday.
The match at the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) stadium in Kabul has sparked major interest in the war-torn country, with a sell-out crowd expected at the afternoon game.
Afghanistan, ranked 139th in the world, last played at home in 2003 in a clash against Turkmenistan and have not played Pakistan, their eastern neighbor and rival, in Kabul since 1977.
“I’m very glad Afghanistan play Pakistan here,” Ghulam Abbas Kohi, a 16-year-old student, told AFP as he picked up tickets from a sales booth in the city.
“I don’t remember any other match like this in my whole life.
“I’m sure Afghanistan are going to score a dozen goals and win. We have a strong team. I have bought 10 tickets and I also have Afghanistan flags to wave. I’m very excited.”
Tickets cost between 100 and 300 Afghanis ($2 and $5) for the game, which will be played on an artificial pitch at the 6,000-seater ground.
The FIFA-sanctioned match is being promoted as an international friendly, but cross-border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan are likely to boost patriotic fervor on both sides.
Afghans and Pakistanis blame each other for violence plaguing both countries, with many in Afghanistan convinced that Pakistan is still pulling the strings behind a 12-year Taleban insurgency.
Pakistan was one of only three countries that recognized the 1996-2001 Taleban regime in Kabul until the hard-line Islamists were defeated by a US-led invasion for sheltering Al-Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks.
“I am sure Afghanistan will win, and hope this victory will be a response to Pakistan’s interference in Afghanistan,” said Mohammad Ali, 20, as he picked up two $5 tickets.
“I’m going with all my friends to this match to support our team. We need to win.”
But retired Afghan football hero Mohammad Saber Rohparwar told AFP that the game should be a demonstration of unity between the two troubled nations.
“I hope it brings joy and hope to the people of both countries,” said the former national captain, who has returned to Kabul from his home in Germany for the match.
“I don’t want to talk politics, but it appears politicians have failed in attempts to bring the two nations closer and help solve the problems shadowing our ties.
“I hope the game helps rebuild trust and strengthen good relations.”
He said he had returned to his homeland to give moral support and to help motivate the Afghan team.
“I have already seen them in action and a.m. happy to see they are strong, motivated and professional.”
Football chiefs in Pakistan, ranked 167th in the world, say the game will “create history” as the two sides meet in Kabul for the first time in 36 years.
“It is very exciting to send our team across the border to Afghanistan,” Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi told AFP.
Afghanistan and Pakistan frequently held sports fixtures in the past, but ties were cut after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, followed in subsequent decades by civil war and Taleban rule.
Pakistan has hosted no top-level international sport since Islamist militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009, wounding members of the visiting team and killing eight Pakistanis.
“The fact that we are hosting our first international game in 10 years, and the first against Pakistan in Kabul since 1977, represents a major highlight for football in our country,” AFF secretary general Sayed Aghazada told FIFA.com.
“It shows that after a very difficult period we are returning to normality.... Of course we expect a sold-out crowd.”
Football was not banned under the Taleban but the old Ghazi stadium in Kabul was a notorious venue for executions, stonings and mutilations.
Tuesday’s game — at the separate AFF ground in the city — will be followed on Thursday by the start of the second season of the Afghan Premier League, with eight teams competing to be champions.
Cricket, as well as football, has boomed in popularity since the fall of the Taleban. Cricketing minnows Afghanistan are set to take on Test nation Pakistan in a Twenty20 match on Dec. 8 in the United Arab Emirates.
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Afghan fans abuzz over return of international football
Afghan fans abuzz over return of international football
Badosa slams online ‘disrespect’ after Dubai injury retirement
- She took to social media to hit back at an individual who said she disrespected the game
- “You have no idea what it’s like to live with a chronic injury and still choose to keep going,” Badosa wrote
DUBAI:Paula Badosa lashed out on Wednesday at a “disrespectful” comment online and vowed to prolong her injury-hit career after a right thigh issue forced the former world number two to retire from her match at the already depleted Dubai Tennis Championships.
The Spaniard had worked her way back into the top 10 in the world last year with strong displays after a string of injuries, including a chronic back problem, left her contemplating early retirement in 2024.
Badosa went up 4-1 against Elina Svitolina in her second round match in Dubai on Tuesday, but lost the next five games and dropped the first set, before the 28-year-old called for treatment and then decided to throw in the towel.
She later took to social media to hit back at an individual who said she disrespected the game.
“You have no idea what it’s like to live with a chronic injury and still choose to keep going,” Badosa wrote.
“To wake up everyday not knowing how your body will respond, searching for solutions, and fighting for something you love and give everything even when it’s so difficult.”
Badosa said she faced “endless nightmares” while trying to find lasting solutions, but being able to step onto the tennis court was worth the trouble.
“So I’ll keep trying,” she said.
“Because it’s all about trying and that won’t change. I’ll always try one more time. I’m doing this for my passion ... If there’s even a 1 percent chance to keep going, I’ll take it. That’s just how I see and understand life.”
WIDER DEBATE
Badosa’s comments reignited a wider debate on players having to deal with hurtful social media comments.
“For me the only disrespect here is to open social media and read messages like this,” Badosa added.
“Then we complain if we see players suffering and having mental health issues, but I’m not surprised with the amount of hate and ‘experts’ we have here.”
The WTA told Reuters that protecting players and the wider tennis family from vile online threats and abuse remained a high priority for the governing body of the women’s game.
Australia’s Destanee Aiava said last week that she would quit the sport this year, describing tennis culture as “racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile” as she highlighted the online negativity she had received.
Several women’s players have spoken about similar issues, with Svitolina saying she received death threats following her Canadian Open defeat last season, blaming the “shameful” behavior on disgruntled bettors.
Angry gamblers were responsible for 40 percent of the detected abuse at players, a survey by the WTA and the International Tennis Federation published last year revealed.
“I’d say it’s not just betting, it’s overall cyberbullying all the time,” world number six Amanda Anisimova said.
“Commenting on everything, like my body all the time, every single day. It’s difficult.
“I don’t think that people realize the extent of it, how much of an effect it can have on someone.”
The Spaniard had worked her way back into the top 10 in the world last year with strong displays after a string of injuries, including a chronic back problem, left her contemplating early retirement in 2024.
Badosa went up 4-1 against Elina Svitolina in her second round match in Dubai on Tuesday, but lost the next five games and dropped the first set, before the 28-year-old called for treatment and then decided to throw in the towel.
She later took to social media to hit back at an individual who said she disrespected the game.
“You have no idea what it’s like to live with a chronic injury and still choose to keep going,” Badosa wrote.
“To wake up everyday not knowing how your body will respond, searching for solutions, and fighting for something you love and give everything even when it’s so difficult.”
Badosa said she faced “endless nightmares” while trying to find lasting solutions, but being able to step onto the tennis court was worth the trouble.
“So I’ll keep trying,” she said.
“Because it’s all about trying and that won’t change. I’ll always try one more time. I’m doing this for my passion ... If there’s even a 1 percent chance to keep going, I’ll take it. That’s just how I see and understand life.”
WIDER DEBATE
Badosa’s comments reignited a wider debate on players having to deal with hurtful social media comments.
“For me the only disrespect here is to open social media and read messages like this,” Badosa added.
“Then we complain if we see players suffering and having mental health issues, but I’m not surprised with the amount of hate and ‘experts’ we have here.”
The WTA told Reuters that protecting players and the wider tennis family from vile online threats and abuse remained a high priority for the governing body of the women’s game.
Australia’s Destanee Aiava said last week that she would quit the sport this year, describing tennis culture as “racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile” as she highlighted the online negativity she had received.
Several women’s players have spoken about similar issues, with Svitolina saying she received death threats following her Canadian Open defeat last season, blaming the “shameful” behavior on disgruntled bettors.
Angry gamblers were responsible for 40 percent of the detected abuse at players, a survey by the WTA and the International Tennis Federation published last year revealed.
“I’d say it’s not just betting, it’s overall cyberbullying all the time,” world number six Amanda Anisimova said.
“Commenting on everything, like my body all the time, every single day. It’s difficult.
“I don’t think that people realize the extent of it, how much of an effect it can have on someone.”
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