While the rest of the nations had the luxury to reach the venue, Kanteerava Stadium, in Bengaluru days in advance before the tournament kicked off on Wednesday, only half of the Pakistan football team reached Bengaluru on Sunday morning before the game while the rest of them, including their England-born attacking midfielder Otis Khan, reached Bengaluru six hours before the start of the match.
“It has been crazy. We were supposed to get the visa promised on Sunday and then we had to wait till Monday and then we found out that we are flying out on Tuesday,” said Otis in the mixed zone after the match. “Half the team arrived in Mumbai this morning (Wednesday) and we missed our flight after a lot of messing about at the airport.”
Pakistan footballers, who played a four-nation tournament in Mauritius before heading for the SAFF Championship, missed their flight to India on Sunday after there was a delay in getting a no-objection certificate from Pakistan Sports Board followed by visa clearance from Indian immigration.
The team was expected to arrive in Bengaluru via Mumbai on Wednesday morning at 8 AM but there was further delay in the immigration process at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as the rest of the players, including Otis, reached the team hotel as late as three hours before the match.
“Whether that was intentional or not, we don’t know but we had to get another two flights. So I didn’t arrive and half of the team didn’t arrive at the hotel until 4’o clock for the biggest game in Pakistan’s football history in the last 10 years and we had just three hours to prepare. No sleep, no food but we don’t want to make any excuses as the best team won today,” said Otis.
The Pakistan midfielder, who plays professional football in England and has been a product of the Manchester United youth system, was impressed with the Indian crowd backing the national team and said it’s louder than any crowd in England.
“You always want to be part of a game like this where there is a huge crowd. I have played in England in front of a 30,000 crowd but the same amount of crowd in India sounds like 60,000. I have got nothing but respect for the fans with the way they backed their team today,” said the footballer.
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