KARACHI: Newcastle United cult hero Nolberto Solano landed in Pakistan on Saturday, being garlanded upon his arrival at the Pakistan Football Federation headquarters in Lahore after taking over as the head coach of the national senior and under-23 teams.

The Peruvian wing wizard dazzled during his time in the English Premier League but the highlight of his coaching career came back in 2018 when, as assistant coach, he took his home country to their first World Cup finals in 36 years.

“We need to work really had to make Pakistan competitive at international level,” Solano said in an in-house PFF interview. “My ambition is like everyone in the federation. We want to have a solid foundation and build a competitive league that allows the talent in the country the opportunity to play.”

Solano stressed he wanted to build a solid team that would play attacking football “to win games”.

His first assignment comes next month when Pakistan face hosts Cambodia, Iraq and Oman in Group ‘G’ in the qualifiers for the 2026 AFC Under-23 Asian Cup.

“We need to focus and have a strong mentality,” he said. “We need to go to Cambodia and try to qualify [for the tournament finals].”

The 50-year-old said as a coach he will not stick to strict philosophy but use a formation that utilises the strengths of his players best.

“I believe we can play different systems depending upon the players. We will know their strengths when we begin training.”

The camp for the Under-23 probables begins in Abbottabad from Sunday.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2025