SAFF Championship 2013: Team Profile – Afghanistan

Sportskeeda continues the buildup to next month’s SAFF Championship by profiling each of the eight participating nations. Here we have a look at 2011 runners-up and the current highest-ranked nation in the sub-continent, Afghanistan.

FIFA Ranking: 139

AFC Ranking: 21

History

Photo Credit: footballnameh.blogspot.com

Afghanistan’s first-ever international match dates back to 1941 and they even participated at the 1948 London Olympics. They were also one of the founder members of AFC in 1954 but until the start of the 21st century, Afghanistan were unable to make their mark in the beautiful game for reasons that go beyond sport. The country had been ravaged by war and political conflicts with the national team not playing any international match between 1984 and 2002.

But following the demise of the Taliban regime in 2002, Afghanistan made their return on the international stage at the 2002 Asian Games where their U-23 team took part. The following year, Afghanistan participated in their first-ever SAFF Championship and then in 2004 they participated in the World Cup qualifiers for the very first time. The results were not going their way but with every passing game and tournament, ‘the Lions of Khorasan’ were getting used to international football.

The federation then started following the growing trend in world football of having foreign-born players in the national team which allowed Afghan expats to represent their country of origin at international level. This significantly improved their results and their football federation have now developed an extensive scouting team to identify players of Afghan origin around the world. The results are there for everyone one to see as Afghanistan finished runners-up at the SAFF Championship in 2011 and in 2013 became the highest-ranked nation in South Asia. They also hosted their first game on home soil after a decade last week and the huge interest in the match once again proved that football is the number one sport in their country. This is the golden era of Afghanistan football and it looks set to get even better.

SAFF Championship Best Performance: Runners-up (2011)SAFF Championship History

Afghanistan made their debut in the 2003 edition in Bangladesh along with Bhutan. It was an experience worth cherishing for a war-torn nation so an expected exit from the group stage with three straight defeats didn’t deflate their spirits. In the next three editions also, Afghanistan were eliminated from the group stage but in every tournament they were showing signs of improvement including the first win which came against Sri Lanka in 2005.

Afghanistan finally found the right balance between homegrown and foreign-born talent at the 2011 Championship in New Delhi as they held record champions and hosts India to a 1-1 draw in their opener. That gave them the confidence to play without fear and following convincing wins over Sri Lanka and Bhutan, Afghanistan made it past the group for the first time. They didn’t just make the semis but also qualified as group winners ahead of India and thus avoided Maldives in the last four. Suddenly from underdogs, Afghanistan became favourites as they were expected to beat Nepal in the semis and reach their first-ever final. Nerves clearly played a part as they produced a jittery performance but eventually triumphed 1-0 thanks to an extra-time winner from striker Balal Arezou.

Afghanistan players lost their temper at the 2011 SAFF Championship final

Although they were not clear favourites in the final against hosts India, Afghanistan had every chance of winning it but for the first time in their history they had to deal with the pressure of a big match. The pre-match tension eventually got to them as their goalkeeper Hameedullah Yousufzari lost his temper and pushed Singapore referee Sukhbir Singh, after he had awarded India a penalty. Yousufzari was sent off and Sunil Chhetri’s successful conversion despite being asked to retake the spotkick opened the floodgates for India who ran out 4-0 winners. It wasn’t a fair reflection of the game as Afghanistan had looked the better side at 0-0 and were denied by India goalkeeper Karanjit Singh on two one-on-one situations. Afghanistan coach Yousef Kargar’s criticism of referee Singh in the post-match conference ended their tournament on a sour note but what they achieved on the pitch will remain long in the memory. On the evidence of their current position in the world rankings, Afghanistan have only built on that runners-up finish in 2011 and look well placed to go one better this time.

Current Team

A big reason behind Afghanisan’s improvement at international level is their inspirational coach Yousef Kargar. The 51-year-old has been in charge since 2010 and is thus easily the longest-serving coach among the eight SAFF participating nations. However because of his red card and misconduct in an AFC Challenge Cup qualifier against Laos, Kargar has to serve a four-match ban and thus won’t be allowed on the technical arena at SAFF 2013 until the final. Argentinean Juan Marcos Troia was recruited on a temporary basis but was removed from the post just a few days after his appointment and the football federation has decided that assistant coach Ali Jawad Attayee will be in charge of the team in Kargar’s absence. The team would no doubt miss Kargar’s presence on the dugout but they are coming into the tournament with plenty of momentum.

Afghanistan are the only South Asian team who have made it through to the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 by winning their qualifying group which had hosts Laos, Sri Lanka and Mongolia. Afghanistan recorded wins over Sri Lanka and Mongolia and came from behind to hold Laos. In June, they played an away friendly against Tajikistan and although they lost, the Afghans put up a much better show than India as they were only beaten 3-2. However their most high-profile result of this calendar year was the 3-0 victory over Pakistan last week. It was Afghanistan’s first game on home soil since 2003 and attracted national interest with almost the entire population glued to their television sets while a capacity crowd witnessed the action at the newly-built Afghanistan Football Federation stadium in Kabul.

The win over Pakistan was wildly celebrated in Afghanistan

The team’s performance and the convincing scoreline made the players national heroes with even the country’s president Hamid Karzai inviting them at his residence. The whole squad are still getting the plaudits so there will certainly be an added confidence in the Afghanistan camp ahead of the SAFF Championship. However the team’s preparations were hit by the absence of several of their foreign-based players at the training camp in Kabul. Those overseas players including Mumbai FC’s Zohib Islam Amiri returned to club duty after the match against Pakistan thus Kargar and his coaching staff could only use the local-based players at the training camp. The team flies out to Nepal on Wednesday and the foreign-based stars are only expected to join them directly in Kathamandu. However there is no denying that Afghanistan have form and confidence on their side but can they make history by lifting their first international title in Kathmandu next month?

Squad for Pakistan friendly

Goalkeepers: Hamidullah Yosufzai, Mansur FaqiryarDefenders:Ali Ahmad Yarzada, Muqadar Qazizadah, Zohib Islam Amiri, Mujtaba Faiz, Mustafa Hadid, Farzad Attayee, Zainuddin Sharifi, Faisal SakhizadaMidfielders: Amruddin Sharifi , Yusef Mashriqi, Arash Hatifi, Mustafa Azadzoi, Marouf Mohammadi, Rafi Barekzai, Ata Yamirali, Waheed NadimForwards: Balal Arezou, Sandjar Ahmadi, Hashmat Barekzai, Hameed Karimi

Key Players

Ali Ahmad Yarzada

The captain of the defending Afghanistan domestic champions, Toofan Harirood, has done very well in central defence in the absence of the experienced Djelaludin Sharityar, who is injured. Yarzada played the entire 90 minutes against Pakistan and the 27-year-old is expected to be a key figure at SAFF 2013.

Mustafa Azadzoy

The Germany-based right winger made his debut for Afghanistan at the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers earlier this year and interestingly had never been to Afghanistan until this month when he trained and played in the Pakistan friendly. According to footballnameh.blogspot.com, he was the best player in that game.

Sanjar Ahmadi

Sanjar Ahmadi (in red)Photo Credit: footballnameh.blogspot.com

According to footballnameh.blogspot.com, the fast opportunistic attacker has stepped up for the national team at a time when star striker Balal Arezou hasn’t been in the best of forms. The 21-year-old Germany-based forward scored the opener against Pakistan and will aim to be clinical and at the same time complement Arezou at SAFF 2013.

SAFF 2013 Group: Afghanistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bhutan

SAFF 2013 FixturesSeptember 2: Bhutan; September 4: Sri Lanka; September 6: Maldives

SAFF 2013 Expectations

For the first-time in their history Afghanistan will be coming into an international tournament as one of the favourites. If one goes by FIFA Rankings, Afghanistan are the best team in South Asia and thus will be expected to win the group. The first two games on paper should be easy wins for the Afghans and maybe this is where coach Kargar has to play an important role. He has to calm his players down and make them realise that they have to earn the right to play and not get complacent. The final group game against Maldives could decide top spot in the group and the winner could avoid India in the semis. Afghanistan have the personnel to go all the way and win this tournament so the fans back home will be expecting the same. The experience of losing the final in 2011 should make them mentally stronger for the big games this time so maybe the real fight for Afghanistan is not against Maldives or India but against themselves. If they can maintain their temperament and play at their best, Afghanistan will create history next month. This SAFF Championship is theirs to lose.