LAHORE, May 20: The Pakistan football team suffered a major blow as their captain striker Mohammad Essa has been ruled out of next month’s SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) Championship due to a thigh injury.

Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) secretary Colonel Ahmad Yar Lodhi told Dawn on Tuesday that the striker aggravated the injury during the recently concluded National Football Challenge Cup in Karachi.

He added that doctors advised Essa to take rest so that the injury would not be intensified further.

“Essa went through a medical test and doctors advised him to take rest from the game. They [the doctors] have warned him of severe problems if he continues playing with the injury.

“Therefore, the PFF has decided to drop him from the regional event to give him proper time to recover,” the secretary added.

About the possible replacement of the striker, Col Lodhi said: “We have a couple of players to replace Essa and it will take us some time to finalise the replacement.”

In Essa’s absence, midfielder Zahid Hameed is likely to lead the team.

“The non-availability of Essa is a big loss to the team since he is a key striker, but I believe the other players are also equally good and the team is quite capable of winning the title,” the PFF official believed.

He dismissed the impression that Gohar Zaman, who had been the coach of the team on their last assignment, the AFC Cup in Taiwan, had been changed for misconduct.

“It was just poor performance of the team in Taiwan which had forced the federation to change Gohar as coach and there is nothing further wrong from him,” the secretary claimed.

The SAFF Championship will be held in Maldives and Sri Lanka. Group ‘A’ matches will be played in Male while Group ‘B’ matches and the final (June 14) will be played in Colombo.

Pakistan are due to leave for Maldives on June 1.

Pakistan, who had won the title in 1995 and were bronze medallist in 1997 at Kathmandu, will clash hosts Maldives in their opening match on June 3.

Currently 36 players are attending the training camp at the Punjab Stadium here. The final squad is likely to be announced in a couple of days.