LAHORE, Dec 24: Karachi will become the first city of the country to hold Asian Cup soccer match when Pakistan face Bangladesh in second leg at Peoples Sports Complex on Monday at 3.30pm.

The first leg of Asian Cup qualifier between the same outfits ended in a scoreless draw at Dhaka’s Bangabadhu National Stadium last Thursday.

Pakistan appeared in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1960, 1968, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 and it is first time that Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has awarded a match of their showpiece event to Pakistan soil. In last edition’s qualifiers (Group-E), Pakistan edged out Macau 3-0 but lost to Singapore 0-3 at Singapore in March 2003.

A spokesman of the Pakistan Football Federation said on Saturday that the match commissioner for Karachi leg will be E.R. Subramanium (Malaysia) while four Sri Lankans will perform the duty of referee, assistant referees and fourth official.

The winner of this play-off will be slotted into Pot D for the Asian Cup draw which will be held on Jan 4.

Pot D comprises Palestine, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, India and Australia. Bangladesh and Pakistan, the two lower-ranked Asian nations, are going through the pre-qualifying phase after 25 teams made entries for 24 qualifying slots.—APP