KARACHI, April 25: Pakistan overwhelmed Maldives 4-0 in the opening match of the Under-20 Asian championship soccer qualifiers, but for coach of the hosts, John Layton, the field is still wide open.

“Yes we won but the field is still wide open and it is difficult to say if Pakistan will qualify for the main round in Qatar,” the coach told journalists after the game against Maldives.

Layton, deputed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and training the juniors for the last two years, was non-committal when asked about the prospects of the team against Sri Lanka.

The Englishman rued missed chances against Maldives and rated Bangladesh as the biggest threat.

“Today’s result was good but I expected a better performance against Maldives. The Sri Lankans are good too but the Bangladesh are the biggest threat,” Layton said.

The Briton said the team should have won with a bigger margin had it not squandered at least four first half opportunities.