August 24, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 10, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 23: Six of the nine UK-based footballers selected for the Pakistan team will be appearing in the 19th national Under-18 championship to be held here at the Model Town Football Club from Aug 28.

The six players are expected to reach Lahore from Manchester on Saturday to participate in the event. They are Birmingham’s Umer Jawed (midfielder), Bradford’s Irfan Khan (midfielder), Usman Hussain (midfield/striker), Lancashire’s Khizar Akber (midfielder), Halifax’s Khurram Shehzad (midfielder) and Manchester’s Haroon Ishaq (striker).

According to a Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) press release, they are likely to don Pakistan colours against Syria, Yemen, Oman, Qatar and Kyrgyzstan in the 13th AFC Under-16 championship Group A qualifiers in Qatar from Oct 17 to 28.

Three remaining players including Nottingham’s Fraaz Ahmed (striker), Assad Ahmed (striker) and Birmingham’s Suffean Mahmood (defender) would be looking for a spot in the Pakistan side for the 19th World Cup qualifying matches against Asian champions Iraq to be held on a home and away basis on Oct 8 and 28, the 7th SAFF championship to jointly hosted by Sri Lanka and the Maldives later this year, and the 2nd AFC Challenge Cup next year in Taiwan.

Two-day trials to select Pakistani origin British-born footballers were held on July 28 and 29 in South Yorkshire.