India are all set to take on Afghanistan in their fourth match of the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifiers round at Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday evening.
This is a very important tie for the Indian side who have managed to collect only two points from their first three games. Thus, Igor Stimac’s side has to win against Afghanistan to keep their hopes alive of making it to the next round of the qualification stage for the World Cup.
Although Afghanistan are ranked 43 places behind India in the FIFA rankings, the Blue Tigers face numerous hurdles against the Afghans.
India’s biggest challenges in Tajikistan will be the extreme weather conditions and the artificial turf of the Central Republican stadium or the Pamir stadium where the match will take place.
The match will kick-off at 7:30 PM IST and 7 PM local time and the temperature is expected to be around 10 degree celsius. Considering the fact that winter is yet to arrive at most Indian cities, the players will find it difficult to adjust to the cold conditions.
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While weather might not pose a huge challenge to the players, they will find it difficult to adjust to the stadium turf. There isn’t a single football stadium with artificial turn in the Indian Super League (ISL). Hence the players are used to playing on natural grass and would need time to get acclimatised to the artificial turfs.
The last time an Indian side played in Dushanbe was back in 2017 when Bengaluru FC faced local side FC Istiklol. The Blues played the first leg of their AFC Cup Inter zonal final in the same Pamir Stadium and had lost 0-1.
Artificial turfs have several disadvantages and that is the primary reason why no top club around the world prefers to play on such pitches.
Those turfs are much harder compared to natural grass and players often face difficulty in judging the bounce and affects their control of the ball. Also, the players have to put extra effort which might lead to much strains and injuries.
The rubber under the artificial turfs often proves to be dangerous for footballers whose studs might get trapped leading to severe injuries. Mohun Bagan’s Sony Norde had suffered ACL team on his left knee back in December 2017 while playing for the club in an I-League clash against Churchill Brothers at the Barasat Stadium, West Bengal.
Bagan won the clash 5-0 but had lost four crucial players to injuries. Norde’s situation was worse as he had to leave the club midway into the season due to the injury and had remained out of action for almost 10 months.
Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium, which is one of the most iconic stadiums in India, had artificial turf until 2016. It was before the U17 World Cup 2017 that the turf was changed and natural grass was laid. Bengaluru FC shifted to the Kanteerava Stadium's natural grass turf 2014 after playing their debut season at the Bangalore Football Stadium's artificial turf.
With only three days’ preparation, it is going to difficult for Stimac’s side to adjust to the conditions in Dushanbe. The Croatian coach did not was to give any excuses ahead of the match but he admitted that the weather and turf will be a major obstacle.
He said, “Apart from the Afghanistan team which is our primary obstacle, we have two other concerns. We are coming from Delhi where it is 30 degrees (celsius), and here it is a bit colder. The artificial turf is another thing. But it will be the same for Afghanistan as well. So we cannot find excuses.”