Our hope is to win Group B and reach semi-finals: Amiri

Captain of Afghanistan’s national team Islam Amiri has said that his team hopes to win Group B and reach the semi-finals in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup, scheduled to begin in the Maldives on Monday.

Amiri said this in an interview with Sun Online at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), upon the team’s arrival in Maldives today.

He said that since Group B is made up of strong teams, his team in which majority of players are relatively young, has to work hard to reach the semi-finals.

Nine players of the Afghan team arrived in the Maldives this morning and the remaining members are scheduled to arrive at 1:45 p.m.

The team will depart to Addu tomorrow. Accommodation for Group B teams has been arranged at Herethere Island Resort.

Matches for Group B, made up of Turkmenistan, Philippines, Afghanistan and Laos, will be held at Addu Zone Stadium.

Afghanistan will play against Philippines on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m.