Worrying about Afghanistan football
On August 17, at the first press conference after taking power, the Taliban announced a commitment to peace, pardon, rights in Sharia law... The Taliban movement to take power after 20 years will certainly have an impact on all aspects of life, including football.
Marca (Spain) interviewed an unnamed Afghanistan national team player to learn more about the situation in this country. This player is living in a Afghanistan city. He said: "I think we are on the right track, towards peace. Currently, everything is fine in my city under the control of the Taliban, which does not hinder normal life at the moment".
Although life is still normal, this player has concerns about the development of sports, especially football in Afghanistan. "I hope the Taliban government is not involved in the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF), because that means FIFA sanctions and we don't want that," he said.
The World Football Federation (FIFA) does not allow parties to interfere in the life of football, including the Government. If there is intervention, FIFA will sanction member federations, leading to national teams not being allowed to compete in international tournaments. That will greatly affect the lives of football players.
For Afghanistan players, like this national team player, he only lives a peaceful life, everything is not too much trouble. He expressed his concern: "My family and I want to live in a peaceful and quiet place and that, unfortunately, can only be found abroad."
The Afghanistan international said that the political instability in his hometown cost him 20,000 USD in income. His goal is to earn 5,000 USD to travel to Iran with his family. 15 days ago, this player welcomed his first daughter.
"I have been married and I have been the father of a beautiful girl for 15 days. My daughter's future is now the most important thing for me. What I want is for my daughter not to have to go through situations like this when she grew up in Afghanistan," the player emphasized.
How strong is the Afghanistan team?
Afghanistan is ranked 153rd in the world and 30th in Asia. They are above some teams in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia or Singapore. They won the South Asian championship in 2013 and were runner-up twice in 2011 and 2015.
Due to objective conditions, Afghanistan football launched the professional national championship in 2012 with 8 teams. Most of the Afghanistan players are playing abroad for clubs in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, India, Bangladesh... The team often gathers abroad because the conditions on the field and security in Afghanistan are not up to standard.
For Vietnamese football fans, the Afghanistan team is not too strange. In the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers, the two teams were in Group C with Jordan and Cambodia. In the first leg in Tajikistan ( Afghanistan) on March 28, 2017, the two teams drew 1-1. Van Toan scored for Vietnam.
In the return match on November 14, 2017 at My Dinh Stadium, the Vietnam team had a hard-fought 0-0 draw with their opponent. This is also the debut match of coach Park Hang-seo of the Vietnam team. With 1 point from this match, the Vietnamese team won a ticket to the 2019 Asian Cup.
