{"id":11394,"date":"2011-11-07T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/different-match-or-just-another-matc\/"},"modified":"2018-06-04T17:10:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T17:10:14","slug":"different-match-or-just-another-matc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/different-match-or-just-another-matc\/","title":{"rendered":"Different Match? Or Just another Match?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/i><\/b>
\nNilanjan Datta<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\nTEHRAN: Is this a different match? Or is it just another match? Your thought shuffles every alternate minute. You eventually give up. It\u2019s futile chasing and trying to find an answer. You decide to take a stroll.<\/p>\n

Downstairs, you bump into the Pakistani team. \u201cEid Mubarak,\u201d — the Pakistani team management who have been so cordial, it seems were waiting for you. You engage in a talk and it goes on and on. The Pakistani U-19 footballers pass by; exchange pleasantries and disappear in the elevator. No other two teams ever sit and speak and chat at length prior to a match. \u2018This is just another match,\u2019 you start to believe.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
U-19 boys at the Team Hotel premises in Tehran<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nColm Joseph Toal endorses it. \u201cThis is just another match for us,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s another of those matches which we will be playing to win.\u201d The boys listen and nod at the team meeting. \u201cSo far, we have been disappointed with the results but not with our performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toal\u2019s rival counterpart, Pakistan\u2019s Coach Shahzad Anwar takes it further. \u201cIndia have been distinctly unlucky against Uzbekistan. This team is one for the future,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

You ask him the obvious question. Shahzad smiles. \u201cIt\u2019s all about Fair and Positive Play. Indo-Pak matches are all about the sporting spirit,\u201d he quips. The staff and the boys — all together were posing for family albums in the snow by then.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment Afghanistan pulled out of Group C our boys were deprived of playing another International Match. This is the last match in our Group and like all other matches, we will play to win; and like all other matches, we will stress on our strengths,\u201d Toal adds.<\/p>\n

By now, you stay convinced, \u2018It\u2019s just another match.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tendency for all to blow up an Indo-Pak clash \u2013 be it in cricket, hockey or football. That\u2019s never the case. But yeah, the spirit of this match stays different,\u201d Shahzad reiterates. \u201cIt\u2019s Eid \u2013 a Special Day. But here we are \u2013 away from home and the boys are preparing for a match. So you can call it a different match,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a different weather altogether. First, there was rain and now there\u2019s snow — it snowed all night in Tehran. There\u2019s snow on the tennis courts, there\u2019s snow on the garden chairs; there\u2019s snow on the cars; there\u2019s snow in the captured frames. And despite some brief spells of sunshine, the forecast doesn\u2019t stay bright for Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The kick-off for \u2018just another match\u2019 with a \u2018different spirit\u2019 is at 3.30pm (IST: 5.30pm). India have three points from three outings while Pakistan are yet to open their account.<\/p>\n

Next matches:<\/b><\/p>\n

\n<\/b><\/p>\n
\nNov 8: Pakistan vs India <\/b>\u2013 3.30pm<\/b> \u2013 IST: 5.30pm<\/b><\/strong><\/b><\/div>\n
\nNov 8: Uzbekistan vs Iran \u2013 6.30pm<\/strong><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
<\/b><\/div>\n
\n
<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nilanjan Datta TEHRAN: Is this a different match? Or is it just another match? Your thought shuffles every alternate minute. You eventually give up. It\u2019s futile chasing and trying to find an answer. You decide to take a stroll. Downstairs, you bump into the Pakistani team. \u201cEid Mubarak,\u201d — the Pakistani team management who have been so cordial, it seems were waiting for you. You engage in a talk and it goes on and on. The Pakistani U-19 footballers pass by; exchange pleasantries and disappear in the elevator. No other two teams ever sit and speak and chat at length <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571,169,166],"class_list":["post-11394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-update","tag-aiff","tag-football","tag-sports","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44501,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11394\/revisions\/44501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwarkaparichay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}