Football is back at the Nehru Stadium

Press Conferences — what are they? Invariably, you have Coaches and Captains coming and talking, only for you to gather at the end that they didn’t speak anything new. Same old quotes on the same old lines.

But not always! A new tournament, and a different press conference; the characters made it all the more interesting. After all, the game is all about them. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the pre-Tournament Press Conference of the SAFF Championship.

It was informative as much it was intelligent. The prevalent humour, for the moment, seemed all the rival coaches have been eternal friends. If Malvides’ Hungarian Coach Istvan Bela Urbanyi spoke about his “three girlfriends,” Nepal’s British Coach Graham Roberts, sitting next insisted “how hard it is to get a trial at Rangers.” And even as you tried to balance both the statements, Bangladesh’s Macedonian Coach Nikola Ilevski interrupted the proceedings. “Excuse me,” he uttered. “Please bring the Cup closer to us,” he pointed to the displayed Trophy at the middle of the table. Moments later, he was “comfortable.” All burst into laughter; the spirit was indeed different.

In between, the same old quotes were uttered. But it was never boring. Almost every team believed, “they can win the Championship.”

Team India Coach Savio Medeira spoke about how the team has been “working hard since the Asian Cup.”

“It’s true we didn’t get much time to prepare as the I-League is on. But I need to laud the boys for the manner they rose to the occasion in the International Friendlies,” he said.

The actions gets underway at the majestic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at 3pm on Friday (December 2) when Bangladesh host Pakistan. Football is back at the Nehru Stadium and the grass looks tempting green. It’s time to get the ball rolling.

FRIDAY’S MATCHES:

Bangladesh vs Pakistan (3pm)

Maldives vs Nepal (6pm).

Both matches would be telecast live on Ten Action +.