India v Pakistan is not a classic football rivalry. But it could be

I ndia’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.

With his team 2-0 up, Stimac did not need to get involved and the headlines should have been all about the India legend Sunil Chhetri getting international goals 88, 89 and 90 in a hugely impressive career. It was the kind of result you would expect from a team ranked 101 playing in front of their own fans against opponents 195th in the world.

Preparations were far from ideal in both the short and long term. Visas were only received on Monday. With Pakistan in Mauritius, where they lost all three games in a four-nation tournament against Kenya, Djibouti and the hosts, it meant a rush to get to southern India, with players arriving at different times.

“The problem about the travel was we received the visas very late and a lot of problems in Mumbai at the airport with the immigration,” said the assistant coach, Torben Witajewski. “So it was tough for the guys. The last group arrived at half past one in the hotel today [Wednesday]. After 16 hours.”

It may help explain an early goalkeeping error when Saqib Hanif had