KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29: Pakistan coach Manzoor-ul-Hasan on Thursday blamed sketchy goalkeeping from captain Salman Akbar for the defeat against Germany in their opening match of the Champions Trophy here.

“Salman’s performance was not up to the mark and that made the difference,” he told reporters at a post match press conference at media centre after the team’s loss to Germany. “Salman is a seasoned goalie but he made too many errors today. However, it happens in the sport sometime. We thought about changing the goal-keeper but decided against it after our forward line put up a fight in the second half,” he said.

However, he complimented his young forward line for putting a good fight till the end.

Manzoor said Pakistan team was going through a rebuilding process for the Beijing Olympics and he cannot expect miracles from the team which has eight newcomers in its ranks. He conceded, though, that he was not expecting such a big thrashing from their opponents.

Praising the Germans, the former Pakistan Olympian said they were the world champions and playing against them was not easy for any team.

German coach Markus Weise described his teams’ victory as a good start for his team. “We got full three points but we were not expecting such a big win against Pakistan,” he said. He, however, disagreed with the notion that a poor show by Pakistan Custodian played big part his teams’ win. “I thought our boys played really well and scored good goals,” he remarked.

German coach also praised Pakistan’s forward line. “Pakistan is always a dangerous team and we can never take them lightly,” he pointed out. “They have got some talented swift forward which troubled our defence.”—Agencies