KARACHI, Oct 21: Pakistan kick off their preparations for the forthcoming assignments with the national soccer training camp which begins on Saturday in the absence of newly-appointed Bahraini coach Salman Ahmed Sharida.

Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has called up 70 probables for the four-day training camp established in Islamabad to select team for Asia Cup qualifying round home and away matches against Bangladesh on Nov 11 and 18.

The same squad is likely to be retained for the eight-nation South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship which runs from Dec 7 to 17 at Karachi’s People’s Sports Complex.

Sharida’s absence from the camp on the opening day means he will not be included in the shortlisting process since he is scheduled to arrive on Sunday. Only chief selector Lt-Col Younis Changezi will be engaged in shortlisting the players.

“I think at least 10 to 15, may be 20 probables will be shorlisted on the opening day. We are planning to exclude only those who really are not worthy enough to play for national side,” PFF director technical Mujahid Ullah Khan said on Friday.

However, PFF official said the new coach would have say in the selection of the team, but was unconvincing when asked how Sharida could have a fair idea of talent when 10 to 20 players would be shortlisted before his arrival.

“The coach will be fully involved in the selection of the players once he joins the squad and settles down,” he said.

Asked why PFF opted to stick to the previous schedule and did not change the date of training camp as it deprived coach of watching raw talent soon after his arrival, Mujahid had a weak argument in PFF’s defence.

“The schedule cannot be changed as we had finalized it much earlier. We received schedule of coach’s arrival after we finalized our schedule. We wanted to start the camp much earlier but gave Oct 22 as the last date.

“Besides the players we will shortlist will not be worthy enough for the national team. Apart from this, the new coach will be able to have better idea when he will watch Pakistan Army-Wapda tie which is the last fixture of the Premier League on Sunday. We mostly have national players from these two departments,” he opined.

Four years ago, John Layton, the Asian Football Confederation-provided coach held open trials throughout the country soon after assuming charge and succeeded in exploring Mohammad Essa from remote Balochistan town of Chaman. Essa is now a star player and gave commendable performance during series against India earlier this year.

Jassim Mohammed Abbas and Khudair Abdulnabi Shamtoot, two other coaches from Bahrain, will be deputed to train youth teams.

The Asian Cup qualifiers and SAFF champions will be Sharida’s first assignments. A former Bahrain player, he has coached his country’s national, Under-17 and ‘A’ teams.

Asia Cup away match on Nov 11 will be played in Dhaka, while Nov 18 home game is likely to be played in Karachi. India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and hosts Pakistan will participate in the SAFF competition.