LAHORE, Dec 3: Hoping to overcome complacency and with a mission to regain past hockey glory, experienced Pakistan take on new-look world champions Germany in the opening Champions Trophy match which explodes into action at National Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

The German coach Bernhard Peters has avoided making any claims about Saturday's match, saying European championship and World Cup are the two events on which the Germans would be concentrating on, while Champions Trophy would provide exposure to the youngsters.

Peters says the present side has no less than 14 players who have not participated in Olympics, while few key players were taking a rest and others were busy in their professional duties.

While the German coach says he has a youthful squad to gain international exposure, Pakistan are not ready to take the opposition lightly. Pakistan captain Waseem Ahmad says considering the fighting spirit as well as defensive abilities of the Germans, they might not prove an easy opposition as they seem on paper.

"One cannot ignore the Germans fighting and defensive abilities. They are here with several junior players but that does not mean they are minnows. They are the world champions and everybody knows what they are capable of," the midfielder told Dawn on Friday.

Waseem said his side could deliver only by playing with patience and sticking to the plan to tackle the Germans. "A couple of field goals are what we will be looking for apart from scoring through penalty corners.

"We have to play like professionals and with patience. If we overcome our complacency, emotions any frustration during the play, only then we will be able to deliver," he said.

While the captain was cautious in predicting result of Saturday's game, he was sure that world's most fearsome short corner exponent Sohail Abbas would add firepower apart from the role of the forward-line.

"Sohail will definitely be an asset for our side against the Germans and other teams too." he said. Waseem, however, said half-bak Mohammad Saqlain's inclusion would do no good to the defence, but the strike force would be bolstered.

"Saqlain can strengthen the attack but I think he will be not be any use to the defence." As the Germans have included youngsters, Pakistan have relied on the best possible stuff they got.

While Germany have at least seven players who have not played more than eight matches, Pakistan have equal number of players who have played 100 matches or more apart from having veterans like Waseem (275 matches), Sohail (220), Kashif (180) and Saqlain (117).

Apart from rookie forwards Adnan Zakir, Akhtar Ali and goalkeeper Nasir Ali the remaining players have been playing for quite a long time. Having Kashif Jawwad, Rehan Butt, Mudassir Ali, Shabbir Hussain and Shakeel Abbasi, Pakistani forward-line should produce result which is expected only if they play with cohesion and better coordination.

The green shirts have Salman Akbar as the goalkeeper and the youngster has shown promise even before aging veteran Ahmad Alam was axed following debacle in Athens. The midfield too has experienced captain Waseem Ahmad, Ghazanfar Ali, while Sohail is obviously the major weapon of the hosts who will have Zeeshan Ashraf in deep defence.

However, what role Saqlain would be playing in tomorrow's match would be interesting to watch. Although on paper Germany seem to be a young side but outcome of the match is hard to predict, as the Europeans are known for sticking to their plan and professionalism, while the Pakistanis are famous for their inconsistency and complacency.

Nevertheless, the objective of the Germans and the Pakistanis has made things more challenging for the hosts as the Europeans have nothing at stake, while green shirts have to produce results to regain the glorious past, winning the title they last won in 1994 at the same venue.

PAKISTAN (FROM): Salman Akbar, Sohail Abbas (vice-captain), Zeeshan Ashraf, Ghazanfar Ali, Mohammad Saqlain, Waseem Ahmad (captain), Rehan Butt, Mudassir Ali, Kashif Jawwad, Tariq Aziz, Shabbir Hussain, Nasir Ahmad, Mohammad Imran, Adnan Maqsood, Dilawar Hussain, Adnan Zakir, Shakeel Abbasi, Akhtar Ali.