| SAFF Championship: Maldives to face Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan
30 September 2005
SINGAPORE - Maldives was confirmed to face the host of upcoming SAFF Championship, Pakistan along with their biggest rival in soccer, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan in group A fixtures.
In Group B, the defending champion Bangladesh will face two time champions India along with Nepal and Bhutan.
Pakistan, meanwhile, who host the eight-team competition, will be looking to avenge their 2003 semi-final 1-0 defeat to the Maldives, runners-up last time out, after being drawn in Group A with the side who memorably drew with Korea Republic in 2003.
“There was a stage in the competition's early days when only one or two sides could win the trophy,” Ganesh Thapa, President of SAFF, said after the draw.
“Nowadays, it would be no exaggeration to say that any one of six teams could win it, which just shows how much football has developed in the region.”
Bangladesh, who beat Maldives on penalties two years ago to lift the prestigious regional trophy for the first time, and India will be vying for top spot in Group B, which also includes Nepal and Bhutan.
Bangladesh and India have met four times in the SAFF Championship, with India holding a slight advantage.
In 2003, an extra-time winner from Mohammed Rahman Munna gave Bangladesh a 2-1 win over India in the semi-finals.
Four years earlier, in the 1999 tournament, the two played out a 0-0 draw in the Group Stage and met again in the final, with India winning 2-0.
And, in 1999, India also had the better of Bangladesh in a 3-0 win in a group game.
Joining the Maldives and Pakistan in Group A are Sri Lanka , whose best run in the competition was in 1999 when they lost to the Maldives in the semi-finals, and Afghanistan , newcomers to the tournament in 2003.
“For the last year-and-a-half, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has been striving to really develop and grow football in Pakistan and we consider hosting the fourth SAFF Championship an honour and also the launching pad for football in the country,” said Lt. Col Mujahid Ullah Khan, of the PFF.
The competition kicks off on December 7. The top two teams in each group will advance to the semi-finals, which take place on December 14. The final is on December 17.
---- taken from SAFF press release, 29 September 2005.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
GROUP A : Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan
GROUP B : Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Nepal
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