ARAD (Bahrain): Pakistan had hoped the qualifiers for next year’s AFC Under-23 championship will help the team prepare for the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifier against Cambodia. They were taught a footballing lesson in their Group ‘D’ opener.

Japan handed a 6-0 thrashing to Pakistan at the Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium on Wednesday night — a result that could have been even worse for Shehzad Anwar’s men, amplifying the fact that there is a lot of work to do before the first-round qualifier for the 2026 World Cup against Cambodia in October.

The Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee and Shehzad had opted not to play friendly matches during the current international break and instead hoped that with several players of the under-23 team being part of the senior team, the AFC Under-23 Championship qualifiers would serve as valuable practice.

Against Japan, though, it was tough. Goalkeeper Salman-ul-Haq made two saves to keep the scores level in the opening 10 minutes but he was beaten in the 11th when Ryuya Nishio deftly connected with a corner kick.

Pakistan remained camped in their own half as Shunsuke Mito doubled Japan’s lead in the 43rd when he got on the end of a throughball and fired past Salman.

It was soon 3-0 when Mao Hosoya scored with a volley shot two minutes into first-half stoppage time.

The pressure was incessant and Japan made it 4-0 six minutes into the second half when Hosoya converted a penalty.

Another spot-kick came Japan’s way in the 59th, this time converted by captain Joel Chima Fujita, before Mito rounded off the scoring five minutes later.

After the tennis-score thrashing, Shehzad’s charges now need to regroup with hosts Bahrain next up on Saturday before Pakistan wrap up their qualifying campaign with a game against Palestine on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2023