KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27: Pakistan continued their chase for a place in the semifinals of the World Cup Wednesday thanks largely to veteran Shahbaz Ahmed chipping in his first goal of the tournament and the heroics of Mohammed Qasim under the bar for a 2-0 victory over pointless New Zealand.

But the win was unimpressive by all means against a side that has yet to earn a point in the competition. Looking nowhere near their best, the four-time champions failed to score in the first half of play.

It required a determined 39th minute effort from Shahbaz for Pakistan to step up a gear after a ‘boring’ opening session. The 34-year-old star of the 1994 World Cup, brought in all the experience to flick in a Kashif Jawad pass while Khalid Saleem scored Pakistan’s second, his shot from the left deflecting into the net off a defender’s stick.

Although Pakistan picked up three more points they would have to raise their game considerably as they bid to win the tournament for a record fifth time. And the way the green shirts played Wednesday, things might get difficult for them.

There was nothing much in the first half in which both sides forced a hort corner each, with Pakistan’s Mr. Reliable, Sohail Abbas being blocked from a 23rd minute set-piece.

Minutes before, at the other end, goalkeeper Muhammad Qasim was called upon to make a spectacular save off a penalty corner shot taken by Hayden Shaw, rapidly developing into a reliable short corner striker.

While the first half was listless there were some good moves in the second half that was played in rain. After Shahbaz opened the scoring, the Kiwis went defensive for a good while.

But they woke up after going 2-0 down and forced three penalty corners, two of them going wide and Qasim springing into action to save the third. The New Zealanders could have equalised on the 45th when Ryan Archibald’s hit deflected onto the cross bar.

With the forwards not making any impression, it was Qasim, who stood out with his spectacular saves. The talented net-minder is indeed fast becoming a life-saver for Pakistan.

Pakistan, with nine points from three games, face their first real test against Argentina Thursday, a side that despite losing to Germany and Holland in earlier matches have troubled them both. Argentina routed South Africa Wednesday for their first win of the event.

And Pakistan manager Brig. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar is wary of them. “We are fully aware that Argentina are a strong team.

“Our first three games were easy and from tomorrow onwards there is going to be no room for any slip-ups,” he said.

Although satisfied to have picked up three points Khalid said Pakistan would have to put in their best against their South American rivals and also in the other games which are expected to be even tougher.