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KARACHI The 25-member Pakistan national football contingent comprising two goalkeepers, seven defenders, an equal number of midfielders and four strikers depart for Sri Lanka on Thursday to feature in the AFC Challenge Cup Group 'D' qualifiers.
Speaking to Dawn on the eve of the team's departure on Wednesday, Chief Coach George Kottan said he was not expecting a good result in the upcoming tournament as it was yet quite early to transform the team although he had done whatever was possible in the short span of time.
'No, I don't think we are going to win many matches in Sri Lanka. So you can say that I am not fully satisfied with this team but then again, in life it is impossible to be completely satisfied,' he quipped.
The two foreign players — Atif Bashir Qureshi and Adnan Farooq Ahmed — about whom it was being said that they might be able to join the squad, after Zeeshan Rehman declined the offer, managed to make it in time too. Another surprise addition to the squad came in the form of KPT's 35-year-old central defender Naseer Ahmed, who has joined the national side after six years.
The Austrian coach said he was pleased that the foreign players were able to get permission from their clubs for national duty.
'The players from England will add strength to the side,' he said.
About whether Naseer Ahmed would even be able to deliver when stepping on the field after such a long time, Kottan said 'Naseer, besides being a great defender, also brings experience to the squad. We should be ale to benefit from his experience.' When asked if he was able to change players' habit of giving unnecessary long or aerial passes about which he had complained soon after returning from the Prime Minister's Cup in Nepal earlier this month, the coach said he was able to have made a difference to some extent.
'They have learned to concentrate on using team effort to move the ball through the field by giving shorter passes,' he said.
The camp that began from March 17 at Karachi's Korangi Baloch Stadium also saw the coach devising an inland series to watch the national team play against several departmental teams.
They beat Pakistan Steel (3-0), Habib Bank Limited (4-1), Karachi Port Trust (2-1), Sindh Government Press (3-0), International XI (5-1), SSGC (7-0) in the match played under floodlights but drew 1-1 with Navy.
When Kottan was asked about what happened there and if it was worrying to see the national team being held 1-1 by a departmental outfit, he was of the opinion 'No, not really. The result of the matches was not important to me. Our side was playing matches with departments every second day while playing amongst themselves too in the days in-between. They were expected to be both physically as well as mentally tired as well.'
'Besides, the Navy boys play rough. I was glad that my boys came out of the encounter without any injuries,' he added.
The AFC Challenge Cup matches that serve as qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup in 2011, will have Pakistan appear in the opener against Chinese Taipei under floodlights at the Sugathadasa Stadium on April 4 followed by daylight matches against Brunei Darussalam on April 6 and Sri Lanka on April 8.
The team leaves for Sri Lanka at 3.00am on Thursday.
Squad
Goalkeepers Jaffar Khan, Amir Gul.
Defenders Naveed Akram, Samar Ishaq, Mohammad Shahid, Aurangzeb, Yasir Sabir, Mahmood Khan, Atiqullah.
Midfielders Mohammad Essa (captain), Abdul Aziz (vice captain), Nasrullah Khan, Jadeed Khan, Atif Bashir Qureshi, Adnan Farooq Ahmed, Naseer Ahmed.
Strikers Mohammad Rasool, Asif Mahmood, Safiullah Khan, Mohammad Asif.
Officials George Kottan (chief coach), Nasir Ismail, Shahzad Anwar (assistant coaches), Mohammad Aslam Khan (goalkeeping coach), Dr Kamran Mehdi (physiotherapist).
