KARACHI, Nov 14: The Pakistan football team was finalised for the tour of Singapore on Wednesday as they were due to fly there for a series of matches against the hosts’ U-23 side and their national team.
Pakistan coach Zavisa Milosavljevic named a 22-member squad after the conclusion of a four-day camp at the PFF House in Lahore for their matches on Nov 16 and Nov 19, against Singapore U-23 and their national side. Veteran goalkeeper Jaffar Khan has been named captain.
Pakistan are looking to gain some valuable experience from the two matches for their AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and the 2013 SAFF Championship.
And according to one of the seven overseas players in their squad, the team is eyeing a good show in Singapore.
“We’ve got a good squad and we fancy our chances of doing well in the Asian Cup next year, so hopefully the games in Singapore will be good preparation,” Pakistan midfielder Adnan Farooq Ahmed, who plays for English lower league club Nelson FC, told Lancashire Telegraph as he prepared to leave England for Singapore.
Adnan is one of seven players including former Fulham defender Zesh Rehman, Shabbir Khan, Yousuf Ejaz Butt, Omar Malik, Hassan Bashir and Mohammad Ali who will all be flying directly to Singapore.
Singapore, meanwhile, will take the match against Pakistan at the Jurong West Stadium on Monday as preparation for the ASEAN Suzuki Cup which starts in two weeks time.
Singapore were on a six-day training camp in Japan, losing their last match of the tour 2-0 to Japanese side Shimzu S-Pulse on Monday. The defeat left Singapore coach Raddy Avramovic seeking a positive result against Pakistan and the Philippines, who they play on Thursday.
“It’s always good to play teams like this,” Avramovic told Singaporean daily Straits Times after their defeat to Shimzu. “The players need to step up in our next two matches ahead of the Suzuki Cup.”
Squad: Goalkeepers: Jaffar Khan (captain), Jahangir, Yousuf Ejaz Butt. Defenders: Samar Ishaq, Naveed Ahmed, Saddam Hussain, Kamran Khan, Mohammad Ahmed, Mohammad Hameed, Zesh Rehman, Shabbir Khan, Omar Malik.
Midfielders: Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Adil, Zia-us-Salam, Adnan Farooq Ahmed.
Forwards: Kaleemullah, Mohammad Mujahid, Saeed Ahmed, Mohammad Rasool, Hassan Bashir and Mohammad Ali.
Officials: Zavisa Milosavljevic (head coach), Shahzad Anwar (assistant coach), Aslam Khan (goalkeeper coach), Kamran Mehdi (physio/assistant manager).
