LAHORE: Pakistan football squad left for Bahrain from here on Tuesday for a series of four practice matches scheduled before their Asian Games and SAFF Cup stints.

The team has been attending a training camp in Lahore under their Brazilian head coach Jose Antonio Nogueira and trainer Jose Portella.

It is the national side’s first tour after three years of turmoil which witnessed total shut down of footballing activities in the country after a Lahore High Court decision in 2015 appointed an administrator to run the sport’s affairs following the controversial Punjab Football Association elections.

The Asian Games, set to be held in Indonesia from Aug 18 to Sept 2, will also be the first international event in which Pakistan will feature after the turmoil.

The team will return from Bahrain on July 31 and will fly to Dhaka later for the SAFF Cup which kicks off on Sept 4. Squad:

Waseem Asghar, Adeel Ali, Yousuf Ahmed, Mohsin Ali, Mohammad Sohail, Arsalan Ali, Mohammad Umair, Ali Khan, Mohammad Riaz, Ahsanullah, Mehdi Hassan, Shehbaz Younus, Mohammad Usman, Sadullah, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Ahmed, Ahmed Faheem, Mohammad Adil, Naveed Ahmed, Mehmood Khan, Bilawal-ur-Rehman, Yousuf Ejaz, Saddam Hussain, Mohammad Danial, Abdullah Qazi, Hassan Basheer.

Coaching staff and officials: Jose Antonio Nogueira (head coach), Jose Portella, Mohammad Habib, Chaudhury Noman Ibrahim and Mohammad Aslam.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2018