LAHORE, Nov 30: Pakistan coach Zavisa Milosavljevic is about to take on his first assignment as the national team is all set to feature in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) tournament under the newly-appointed coach.

The SAFF tournament is scheduled to be held in New Delhi, India from Dec 2 to 11.

Serbia’s Milosaviljevich, who has recently joined the national team after taking charge from Tariq Lutfi, while departing for India on Tuesday, said the event would help him assess the real strength of every team as it was his first assignment with any team of the region.

The new coach maintained that the tournament was important at the regional level and his boys were gearing up for the event.

He said that he had penned hopes on some of the outstanding boys in the team, adding that talent in Pakistan was in abundance but in need of proper training.

Pakistan team have been placed in Group ‘B’ with Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal. All matches of the group will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Football Stadium, New Delhi.

Pakistan will open their campaign on Dec 2 with the match against Bangladesh, followed by their games against Maldives on Dec 4 and Nepal on Dec 6.

AFP adds: Captain and goalkeeper Jaffar Khan said on Wednesday his team aims to win matches on the field and hearts off the field during their tour of India for the regional championship.

“We are going to try to win the championship no matter how tough our matches are,” said Jaffar, whose side starts on Dec 2 against Bangladesh,

Defending champions and hosts India are in Group ‘A’ with Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. The top two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals.

“We are the first team to visit India for a long time and I hope that with our good conduct and play we leave a good impression of Pakistan in India,” said Jaffar maintained.

Squad: Goalkeepers: Jaffar Khan (captain), Saquib Hanif and Muzamil Hussain. Defenders: Samar Ishaq, Kamran Khan and Mohammad Rizwan Asif, Mohammad Ahmed, Naveed Ahmed, Manzoor Ahmed and Alamgir Khan.

Mid-fielders: Adnan Farooq Ahmed (vice-captain), Faisal Iqbal, Ansar Abbas , Saddam Hussain, Kaleemullah, Mohammad Adil, Mohammad Ikram and Atif Bashir Qureshi.

Forwards: Jadeed Khan Pathan, Shakir Lashari, Husnain Abbas and Junaid Qadir.

Officials: Zavisa Milosavljevic (coach/manager), Syed Nasir Ismail (assistant coach), Gohar Zaman (assistant coach/assistant manager), Mohammad Aslam Khan (goalkeeping coach) and Dr Kamran Mehdi (physio).