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Regional rivalry time

Sports Reporter
Regional football powerhouses India and Bangladesh will be put to the test by the emerging nations of South Asia when the fifth edition of the SAFF Football Championship begins in Maldives
capital Male today.
Three-time champions India kick off their campaign against Nepal in die opening match of the eight-team event while Maldives face Pakistan later on the day.
Winners of 2003 and last version's runners-up Bangladesh meet Bhutan tomorrow in Colombo where co-hosts Sri Lanka are pitted against Afghanistan in the second match.
.Although India and Bangladesh share the glory, though unevenly, in all four previous meets, they would be facing strong challenge from the two co-hosts as well as Pakistan andAfghanistan.
Under German coach Klaus Staerk, the Afghans who joined seven Saarc nations in the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) in die 2003 competition in Dhaka, have made vast improvement. They got the reward last month when they qualified for the AFC Challenge Cup finals after a goalless draw with Bangladesh and a stunning 1 -0 victory against hosts Kyrgyzstan
Football in war-torn Afghanistan is plagued by several problems and topping the list is security as many parts of the country are still controlled by the conservative Taliban regime.
With the game confined to capital Kabul only, the five Germanybased players make the core of the team who would be eyeing a semifinal spot ahead of Sri Lanka or Bangladesh from Group B.
Sri Lanka have never been a contender but their recent 7-1 win against Pakistan to confirm qualification for the Challenge Cup proves that they would be the team to bet on home territory.
Also, they had won the Saarc Gold Cup. the mother of the SAFF Championship, held in Colombo in 1995 and finished runners-up in die inaugural Challenge Cup in Dhaka in 2006.
Maldives are the only team apart from India and Bangladesh to have reached final of the tourna-
ment. Losing finalists in die inaugural SAFF Championship in 1997 in Kathmandu and in 2003, Maldives have brought back Slovakian coach Jozef Jankech, who masterminded their trip to the final against Bangladesh before eventually losing die match to the home side in penalties.
If they expectedly reach the semifinals, they will have the big advantage of playing the knockout match at home even if they finish second in Group A or do not draw Sri Lanka in the last four.
Pakistan, humiliated by Sri Lanka in the Challenge Cup qualifiers, have boosted their chances by including fourforeign-based players.
The latest inclusion is Atif Bashir of Welsh Premier League side Haverfordwest County AFC while they have called Adnan Ahmed of Tranmere Rovers and Kashif Siddiqui of Eckerd College, Florida in addition to Queen's Park Rangers defender Zeeshan Rehman, who had made his SAFF debut in 2005 in Karachi.
Nepal will bring a young team under German-born coach Thomas who had to drop five key players due to injury and include seven under-19 booters.
SEE PAGE 18 COL 8 FROM PAGE 17
India, under British coach Bob Houghton, have a great match winner in Baichung Bhutia who have three championship medals in the regional football extravaganza. It will be the veteran striker’s fourth appearance after missing the show in Dhaka due to injury, the only time India failed to make the final.
The favourites, highest ranked team in the tournament with a FIFA ranking of 151, have retained most of their senior players and played preparation matches in Portugal.
Although seasoned goalkeeper Sandip Nandi has been left out due to injury, India have members of the 2005 champion team like Mahesh Gawli, Deepak MondaL NS Manju, Anwar, Sameer Naik, Steven Dias, Climax Laurence, NP Pradeep, Mehrajuddin, Renedy Singh and rising star Sunil Chetri.
Bangladesh, finalists in three consecutive championships, left home without much conviction and Abu Yusuf, the only local coach to have led the side into a SAFE Championship, faces a tough task. .
Looking for their first international victory in two years, the SAFF runners-up whose current ranking is a low 180 have a great chance to make a winning start though as they face Khare Bahadur Basnet’s minnows Bhutan (FIFA ranking 187) — a team of unknown quality -- before taking on the meet's lowest ranked side Afghanistan (ranking 196).