KARACHI: The Afghanis­tan football team arrived in Lahore on Sunday ahead of next week’s international friendly against Pakistan.

After reaching Islamabad, they travelled via the Motor­way towards Lahore where the match will be held on Saturday at the Punjab Stadium.

“It is a nice moment for Pakistan football as we’ll be hosting an international match for the first time since October last year [when Palestine came to the country],” Pakistan Football Federation’s marketing consultant Sardar Naveed Haider Khan told Dawn on Sunday.

The two teams last met each other in August 2013 when the Afghans ran out 3-0 winners in Kabul — a match which was a warm-up for that year’s SAFF Championship.

Afghanistan went on to win the biennial South Asian showpiece and this time the match will help Pakistan prepare for their twin assignments of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers and the AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers in March.

Pakistan will learn their opponents in the first round of the World Cup qualifiers on Feb 10 while they are drawn in Group ‘B’ alongside Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan in the AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers which also serve as qualifiers for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Afghans have sent out their ‘B’ team for the game, Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported.

Pakistan, meanwhile, will be without the services of captain Kaleemullah and ace winger Mohammad Adil for the game with the duo in action for their club side, Kyrgyz giants FC Dordoi next week.

However star defender Zesh Rehman, formerly of Premier League side Fulham, will make his return to the national team after a gap of almost 14 months alongside Denmark-based striker Hassan Bashir.

“I’m looking forward to joining the [national team] camp on Monday or Tuesday,” Zesh told Dawn on Sunday, a day after his side Pahang FA lost to Johor Darul Taz’im in the Malaysian Charity Shield game.

Published in Dawn February 2nd , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play