In one of the historic moments for Afghanistan, they defeated India by 2-0 to win their first ever international soccer title in Kathmandu, Nepal. This victory could be a normal thing for other countries, but for Afghans; this is the special moment, especially for a war hit country where US attacked after their September 11 terrorist outbreak. Over a long period of time, this nation was living like an alien planet without any connection with the outside world, but this triumph brings them in line with international soccer fraternity which is a good thing for civilians there particularly ambitious soccer stars. Probably, for the first time in many years; bullets were being fired up in the air to celebrate their commendable victory in an international soccer event’s final match. Though, Afghans have been a founding member of Asian Football Confederation since 1954, but their persisting domestic war took them far away of global sporting action. If we look at future perspective of this victory, it can cause some surprising changes in their domestic infrastructure for young soccer hopefuls, coz, at the moment, there are effectively no resources for young players to learn and master the game skills. On world rankings, this nation has improved substantially and stands at 139th place which shows how optimistic they are about their future sports.
Days are still far ahead when we see them playing in a world cup or even in an Asian cup, yet this is a good start to pave the road ahead. Anyway, let’s talk about the ongoing celebrations at every corner, every street where thousands of fans gathered with joy and kept sharing their comments on how each of their team players played in the final. This is probably the first time when these civilians were talking about a sport in public rather about ongoing war and domestic terrorism. A fan, Waheedullah, expressed his feelings and said, “I am extremely happy, and I am very proud. How I can explain my feelings? My friends and I were just praying, praying to be champions. It’s one of the happiest days of my life.”
President, Hamid Kazai, also said via YouTube, “The youth of Afghanistan showed that our nation, our people have the ability to make progress and succeed.” While goalkeeper Mansur Faqiryar, said, “I’m proud of my whole country. I congratulate my dear countrymen.”
Maybe the event was not big enough for European territories to comment on, yet it is a great start towards making Asian continent a better and strong footballing region.