India’s 4-0 win against Pakistan on Wednesday showed why this fixture is not currently one of football’s great rivalries but also why it could be. They may not meet often, this being a first game since 2018, and one may have fallen far behind the other, but the potential is there if Pakistan can get their act together off, and then on, the pitch.
Sparks can fly, as the opening game of the South Asian Cup showed. India’s coach, Igor Stimac, caused a mass brawl just before half-time when he stopped Pakistan’s Abdullah Iqbal from taking a quick throw-in. The Croat pushed the ball out of the defender’s hands, earning a red card and causing tempers to flare on a warm night in India’s tech capital of Bengaluru.
