Afghanistan begin today their first World Cup qualifying campaign since the Taliban’s return to power, with head coach Abdullah Al-Mutairi looking to push politics aside and let his team focus on beating Mongolia.
Afghanistan, who have never gone close to a place at the World Cup, hopes to advance in the second round of Asia’s preliminaries for the 2026 finals facing challenges. Unable to play in front of home fans due to security reasons, they will host Mongolia in neighboring Tajikistan before the return leg in Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday.
“Everyone is thinking all of us are monsters but this is not true,” the coach said of how his team have been perceived since the Taliban returned to power two years ago. “You cannot judge all of the people because of one or two, or because of the political situation …we are only a football team.”
The tie is one of 10 taking place across Asia featuring the confederation’s lowest-ranked nations.
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