Victory over Sri Lanka was greater than winning the title, says Afghan coach

Prince Gunasekara reporting from Pakistan, KARACHI, Wednesday, Afghanistan coach Clives Stacks said their 2-1 win over much fancied Sri Lanka in the last preliminary round game is greater than winning the South Asian Gold Cup. The German national coach contracted by Afghanistan said the joy of beating a team like Sri Lanka was a great achievement.

Afghanistan added salt to Sri Lanka's wounds as the lads from Colombo suffered a humiliating defeat in Sunday's last group 'A' match. "Sri Lanka team is much ahead of us. But our lads proved that Afghanistan has a team which could spring a surprise by beating more fancied opponents in South Asia," Stacks said.

He said Afghanistan's road to success has been a hard one. "Our players even do not have a proper ground to play back home. There are no domestic inter-club competitions. Even the players do not get a proper meal," he said.

An emotional Afghanistan coach said a few German players have pooled money to feed the team. He said no soccer has been played in Afghanistan for the last five years and the previous Taleban rule put an end to all activities there.

He said Afghanistan team underwent a 100-day coaching camp in Berlin, Germany as preparations for the eight-nation tournament here. He said that training brought good results as the players developed good mental condition.