LAHORE: Manager-cum-coach of the SAFF champions Pakistan under-16 football team, Hasan Baloch, said the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) should provide more international matches to this team to form a formidable senior team in next eight to ten years.
“The boys are good and shaping well, but they need more international exposure to hone their skills and if they get the opportunity of international matches they can form a strong senior team in next eight to ten years,” Hasan told Dawn.
The under-16 team won the title, recently after defeating arch-rivals India 2-1 in the final in Nepal.
“I have been associated with these boys for the last two years and as an under-14 unit, the boys won second position in the football festival, held in Iran, and now they clinched the SAFF title in the presence of strong teams like India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” he said.
“It shows the boys have the spark and they need a good handling to form a strong senior team,” he said.
He said the PFF was doing its best to provide all facilities within its limited resources.
Asked if the under-16 side needed any foreign coach at this level, Hasan disagreed and said the PFF should hire a foreign coach for its senior team with giving him additional charge to also train local coaches.
“The Indian team came in Nepal for this competition after attending a nine-month-long training camp in Los Angles, USA, while the hosts Nepal have a British coach, but our team remained unbeaten to finally win the championship,” Hasan said.
He said the players and their parents were happy after the PFF announced a cash prize of Rs3 million for the squad and now the boys would show more commitment and dedication to make football their career.
He said Pakistan defeated India twice, first in the league and then in the final, which was a great achievement.
He said Mohammad Bilal, who remained top scorer of the event with four goals, all against Maldives, along with Mansoor Ali, Zeeshan Ali and captain Munir Aftab were outstanding in the tournament and are improving with the passage of time.
