Pakistan 1……………..Sri Lanka 0

Maldives 9……………Afghanistan 1

KARACHI, Dec 7: Pakistan opened their campaign at SAFF soccer championship with a narrow 1-0 victory over Sri Lanka thanks to an Imran Hussain first-half strike at People’s Sports Complex on Wednesday.

It was free-flowing and attacking football in the first half from Pakistan that was instrumental in home side’s domination against Sri Lanka as the visitors seemed helpless against home team’s continuous inroads.

Although Sri Lankans had claimed they were undeterred by Fulham defender Zesh Rehman’s presence, their poor attack was ineffective against neat defensive work by the English Premier League player who was delighted on making international debut helping Pakistan to victory.

“I really enjoyed the game and am happy to make my international debut for Pakistan,” Rehman told Dawn after the match.

While Rehman was happy on donning Pakistan jersey, coach Salman Ahmed Sharida, was equally elated on gaining full points.

“I am really happy that we secured three points and that was vital for us. But I am also angry on the kind of performance the players gave in the second half. I had a pep talk with the players during halftime and told we are winning 1-0 but need to maintain that attacking football. I don’t know what happened during the second half.

“Attacking football was the real thing. I told the player that crowd, the Pakistan Football Federation, fans and even you, the media, want to see attacking football. That’s why we were here. But I really don’t know what happened to the players after halftime,” Sharida said.

The coach, was however confident of a better performance from his side against Afghanistan, although he avoided to comment on 9-1 loss of Afghans against Maldives.

“I can say about my team. The main thing is that we have gained three precious points. And if we beat Afghanistan, we are through to semifinals and may be playing in the final. I am now focussed on Afghanistan not Maldives or anybody else.”

Pakistan got off to a confident start as they nailed the Sri Lankans from the first whistle with a second-minute attack that saw Mudassir Saeed header shaking the upper edge of the bar.

Pressing for the goal, Pakistan tested Sri Lanka goalkeeper S.D. Thilakaratne but Imran missed the target narrowly when his free kick sailed over the crossbar three minutes later.

After some assistance by Farooq Shah, Imran again came close to scoring only to see his effort being saved by Thilakaratne.

Although Pakistan’s efforts failed to yield results, they were continuously tearing weak Sri Lankans defence apart with probing runs as Imran’s weak chip in was taken by Thilakaratne in the 17th minute.

So eager were the Pakistanis to score that even Rehman, despite playing as a defender, joined the attack several times by coming into the goal area on a number of occasions, eyeing for an opportunity to use his good height.

After having easy sailing, Thilakaratne had to produce a brilliant save in the 31st minute when Abdul Aziz zeroed in with a booming 18-yard drive.

But it was in the 38th minute that Pakistan got what they were looking for when Imran grabbed the winner from close range.

Although the Sri Lankans could not equalise, things certainly changed in the second session. Pakistan, who were looking goal-hungry in the opening half, seemed to have forgotten their game plan.

Sri Lanka displayed better ball control and hardly let the home side have the possession, making the pace of the game slow.

Earlier in the opener, three-goal Thariq Ahmed and Fazeel Ibrahim helped 2003 runners-up Maldives take a whirlwind start when they crushed minnows Afghanistan 9-1.

Umer Ali opened the scoring for the Maldives in the 12th minute followed by Ibrahim goal in the 27th minute. Ashfaq Ali slotted home in the 34th minute before Afghanistan scored their consolation goal through Sayed Maqsood.

Ibrahim and Ahmed netted in the injury-time. Ahmed again found the target in the 46th minute, Ibrahim (60th minute), Ahmed (84th minute) and Ali (85th minute) completed the tally.

Thursday’s fixtures: Bangladesh v Bhutan 3.15pm; India v Nepal 6.00pm.