LAHORE, Dec 28: The newly appointed Slovenian national coach of the Pakistan football team Joseph Herel reached here on Friday to start his assignment with the Pakistan Senior team.

 Herel has been appointed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) in place of English coach David Burns who had been terminated by the Asian body on developing differences with the national football federation.

The immediate job of the new coach is to train and finalise the Pakistan team in the training camp which is already in progress at the Model Town Club ground. The camp has been set up prepare the national team for the SAFF Gold Cup to be held at Dhaka from Dec 26. The new coach is to visit the training camp on Saturday.

Meanwhile the second phase of the national football training camp is in full swing at the Model Town Club ground.

Two prominent goalkeepers Jafar Khan and Nauman are unfit. Jafar Khan has skin problem while Nauman has a knee problem. One probable Saleem Shahid could not join the second phase due to his marriage. Another probable Adeel has left the training camp due to  illness. Ihsanullah is the fifth probable who could not join the camp yet.

According to the draws of the SAFF Gold Cup Pakistan will play India in the opening match on Jan 26. India which has refused to play against Pakistan in the games of hockey and cricket are bound to play in every football tournament which has been approved by the FIFA.

Pakistan and India with Sri Lanka are placed in tough Group A while Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and hosts Bangladesh are in Group B which is comparatively an easy pool. Pakistan will play its second match against Sri Lanka on Jan 30. The semi-final will be played on Feb 3 and the final on Feb 5. The winning side will get $ 50,000. Besides it every participating team will get $ 10,000 for participation.