Millennium Cup matches to be considered for international rankings

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

FIFA technical committee chairman Mohammed Bin Hammam Abdullah on Thursday said the Sahara Cup Millennium football tournament matches will be considered for international rankings.

Abdullah, who was in Calcutta to watch the final between Bosnia and Yugoslavia, at the Salt Lake stadium on Thursday, made this observation while addressing a news conference soon after the prize distribution ceremony.

"Not only the individual players would get FIFA [the world body] recognition for the goals they scored, but even the participating teams would be awarded points as per their performance," Abdullah said.

Abdullah praised the All India Football Federation for its "splendid" job in roping in Bosnia and Yugoslavia, two politically hostile national sides, to play in the tournament.

"The AIFF, and especially Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi have done a fantastic job. This was for the first time that Bosnia and Yugoslavia played against each other in an international tie. No game can make such achievements -- like football has done -- in bringing two fighting countries together on one ground," he added.

Abdullah later told rediff.com FIFA officials were quite concerned about Thursday's Bosnia-Yugoslavia final.

"I kept receiving phone calls from FIFA senior functionaries including Walter Gag, who wanted to know whether the match was being played in friendly manner. Others asked me if any red cards had been shown. However, they all appeared relieved when I told them that the match ended without any untoward occurrence," Abdullah remarked.

Meanwhile, Bosnian coach Husnija Arapovic blamed lack of rest for defeat in the final. In the post-match media briefing, Arapovic said most of his players were tired and exhausted after playing two relatively stronger teams in the quarter-finals and semi finals.

"Unlike Bosnia, Yugoslavia had two weaker oppositions in Japan and Romania in their run-up to the final. But having said that, there is no denying the truth that Yugoslavia remains one of the best teams in the international soccer arena. This worked as a great advantage to our boys' experience -- who had no international exposure at all. For us, the Sahara Cup was the first tournament abroad. But I am sure we will perform better in future," Arapovic said.

His Yugoslavian counterpart Petkovic Ilija, on the other hand, felt that there was nothing surprising about his team's victory over Bosnia. He said Yugoslavia's previous encounter with Bosnia in the league stage, which ended in a 1-1 draw, worked as an eye opener for his side.

"Even though we are always a better side than Bosnia, we were not taking our rivals lightly. We knew that we would win the final since being an elder brother, Yugoslavia has an upper edge over Bosnia in sports. Our win also debunks the widespread criticism that we had brought a B-grade team to India. 13 in the present side are the best national players. It's a different matter altogether that we couldn't take the services of many of those representing the national team in the World Cup following their club commitments," Ilija remarked.

The Bosnian coach announced that his team's next encounter would be against Hungary, in Sarajevo on February 21, before Bosnia kicks off its campaign for the World Cup qualifying round matches.

Bosnia plays Austria in its World Cup qualifying round on March 21.