 |
|
South
Sudanese hope success on the field will help ease civil war tensions
(Photo: Getty Images)
|
Today it's the first ever
World Cup qualifying match for South Sudan, the world's newest nation, when
they take on Mauritania. Kick-off is at 13:30 GMT in the capital, Juba. The
head of South Sudan's football association, Chabur Goc Alei, said that the
match was not just a sporting milestone for the country, where fighting
continues despite August's ceasefire deal to end a civil war that erupted in
December 2013.
"Today
is really is a very big day for the whole country - all of the people are
really excited," he told BBC Newsday's Matthew Kenyon.
"We
call it 'the match for the unity' ... because when we are playing all the
people they forget about the war, they forget about everything, they come as
one nation, because sport in general and football in particular [is] uniting
our nation now."
South
Sudan is highly unlikely to make it to the World Cup finals in Russia in 2018,
but Mr Alei says he hopes a victory will improve their place in the FIFA
rankings.
The
country has crept up from 198 to 144 following a victory over Equatorial Guinea
last month.
No comments:
Post a Comment