LAHORE, April 7 Pakistan will go all out for three points when they take on 2006 silver medallist Sri Lanka in the third AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers (Group-D) at Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday (3.30pm PST).

Sri Lanka lead the table with six points from two matches while Pakistan has four points from as many matches. A clear cut win over Sri Lanka will push Pakistan on top and ensure a trip to India next year.

In the other match of the day, Chinese Taipei (1 point) will go all out for a win over eliminated Brunei Darussalam (pointless) to keep themselves in hunt as best-runner up among the four groups.

It will be the 18th Pakistan-Sri Lanka clash in international soccer arena. Both the nations have seven wins each to their credit in the 17 matches played between them so far with three matches ending in draw. The goal count is in favor of Pakistan by 28-24. But Sri Lanka, the 1995 SAFF champions and runner-up of First AFC Challenge Cup, have defeated Pakistan only once since 2003. The sixth SAFF Championship in 2005 saw Pakistan getting 1-0 win over Lankans at Karachi while the two under-23 clashes between the two on Sri Lankan soil in the 10th South Asian Games 2006 saw Pakistan as the victorious team.

Pakistan won the league match against them 1-0, followed by another 1-0 in the final at Sugathadasa. Pakistan also overwhelmed Sri Lanka 5-4 on tie-breaker in Islamabad`s SAF Games 2004 semi-final after a 1-1 score in stipulated time.

The Sri Lankans are currently ranked 164th in FIFA rankings as compared to Pakistan`s 166th rating.

The first full international match between the two South Asian nations took place in 1952 when Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. Pakistan won 2-0 in the four-nation “Colombo Cup” and maintained their winning spree in next three events too. The won 6-0 at Rangoon 1953, 2-1 at Calcutta in 1954 and with similar margin in Dhaka in 1955.

After four back-to-back defeats, Sri Lanka recorded their first win over Pakistan with handsome 4-0 win in the SAFF Championship at the SAARC Gold Cup in 1993 at Lahore. That was followed by another win from islanders (2-1) during Dhaka`s SAF Games the same year.

Both the teams then met twice in Kathmandu`s SAFF Championship in 1997. Pakistan suffered a 0-2 defeat in the league encounter but came back to score 1-0 win in bronze-medal decider seven days later.

The two teams were also involved in a high-scoring games in 2001 when World Cup qualifiers were staged at Beirut and Bangkok respectively. Pakistan`s current coach Gohar Zaman hammered a hat-trick in the first leg that ended 3-3 while Sri Lanka clinched the second leg 3-1.

Four more international friendlies afterwards saw Pakistan losing the first-ever series 0-2 with two matches failing to produce any result.—Agencies