LAHORE: Pakistan football team led by Saddam Hussain departed for Jakarta on Friday night from Lahore to participate in the Asian Games which are scheduled to commence there from Aug 18.

Saqib Hanif has been named as Saddam’s deputy. Other players in the squad are Waseem Asghar, Adeel Ali, Maqbool, Zainul Abideen Ishaque, Yousaf Ahmad, Mohsin Ali, Muhammad Sohail, Muhammad Bilal, Muhammad Umar Hayat, Ali Khan Niazi, Muhammad Riaz, Ahsanullah, Mehdi Hassan, Noman, Shahbaz Younas, Mansoor, Arsalan Ali and Mahmood Khan.

President of PFF Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, while expressing good wishes for the team, has said best possible facilities were provided to the

Head coach is Jose Antonio Nogueira while Jose Roberto Portella is the team trainer. Muhammad Essa is the assistant coach while Noman Ibrahim is the goal-keeping coach. Also accompanying the squad are director technical PFF Shahzad Anwar and masseur Muhammad Aslam.

Pakistan team will face Vietnam in their opening match on Aug 14. The Greenshirts play Japan next on Aug 16 and Nepal on Aug 19. players for the Games’ preparation.

He added that the Brazilian coaches have been working hard with the players to improve their skills while the Bahrain tour has given them lot of confidence.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2018