As of today, the curtains are going to be lifted at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore for the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship. This will bring a new level of competition to the tournament, as it will have two Middle Eastern teams competing for the first time.
The reigning world champions After the match between Kuwait and Nepal, who finished in second place in the last tournament, India will begin their campaign against their cross-border rivals Pakistan in the second game of the opening day at the same stadium.
Since the beginning of the South Asian football spectacular 30 years ago, the tournament has only been open to the seven countries that are located on the subcontinent up until Afghanistan’s participation in 2005.
After their first three visits, in which they failed to contribute any spice to the proceedings, Afghanistan started pushing India by making it to the finals of all three tournaments between 2011 and 2015 and even winning the trophy once.
However, with Afghanistan’s decision in 2018 to leave SAFF and join the Central Asian Football Association, India became essentially the only competitor in the tournament, going on to win eight of the tournament’s 13 championships.
India’s proposal to invite the stronger teams from beyond the South Asian region to increase the tournament’s competitiveness has resulted in the inclusion of Lebanon (ranked 99th) and Kuwait (ranked 143rd), despite the fact that other South Asian nations are struggling to match the standards set by their predecessors.
This is due to the fact that India has been steadily climbing up in the FIFA ranking while other South Asian nations have struggled to meet the standards set by their predecessors.
The two are anticipated to pose a threat to India’s monopoly, but other teams such as Maldives, Bangladesh, and Nepal will try to make their presence felt as well. Maldives have won the tournament twice, and Bangladesh and Nepal have won it once each.
Sunil Chhetri, a prolific striker for India, believed that it would present a new and distinct challenge. “This is the very first time that Lebanon and Kuwait have competed in the SAFF Championship.
With all due respect to the other teams in the SAFF area, their [Lebanon and Kuwait’s] level is higher, and this is something that should be celebrated. It won’t be like any of the other SAFF Championships you’ve seen before. Chhetri made these remarks in an interview with SAFF. “The champions are going to have a different challenge,” Chhetri remarked.
Pakistan, a nation that has previously reached the semifinals of the championship five times, will participate again this year despite serving a FIFA suspension that prevented them from participating in the last competition.
As a result of their recent participation in a four-team tournament held in Mauritius, it is anticipated that they would provide a challenge to both India and Kuwait in Group A. This is especially true given that they arrived at the competition immediately following the conclusion of that event.
Following their involvement in a four-nation Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneswar, India and Lebanon are also heading into the event in top form. In that competition, India prevailed against Lebanon by a score of 2-0.
Even though Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, and Bhutan have done well in their preparations both at home and abroad, it is anticipated that only India, Lebanon, and Kuwait would end up in the top three positions.
Although Bangladesh were previously contenders, they have not advanced past the group stage in any of the last five tournaments that they have participated in. The men who will be competing in red and green are aiming for the semifinals this time around, and they are trying to get out of a group that also includes Lebanon, the Maldives, and Bhutan.
“I think the competition in this group is going to be very tough because all of us want to progress,” the coach of Bangladesh’s team, Javier Cabrera, stated. “This is pretty significant for us because we have gone through the last five iterations of the competition without qualifying for the semifinals. By adhering to our plan, we shall perform to the best of our abilities. We anticipate fierce competition, as well as three challenging matches.