KABUL, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – Two teams comprising people who last faced each other on the battlefield, during the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan 1979-1989, will clash Thursday – this time, on the football pitch.
RIA Novosti will give live text coverage of the game, and a video report of its highlights.
The Afghanistan Football Federation Stadium is hosting the match, with kick-off expected at 11:00 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. GMT or 2:30 a.m. EST).
The “Soviet” delegation includes 22 football enthusiasts hand-picked out of hundreds of applicants from across the post-Soviet space, all of whom fought in Afghanistan.
The Kabul home side is made up of local aficionados of “the beautiful game” from the same age bracket – all participants have to be at least 40 years old.
The Afghan line-up is expected to comprise between six and eight former Mujahedeen who took up arms against the invading Soviet army in the 1980s, team representatives told RIA Novosti.
The match will be played in two halves of 30 minutes each, shortened from the standard 45 minutes to compensate for the "Soviet" side's difficulty adapting to the altitude and climate – the city is located 1,700 meters above sea level.
Two more games are tentatively scheduled, one for Friday in the Panjshir Valley and another in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday.
Updated to change "soccer" to "football"
