LAHORE: Pakistan were thrashed by Germany 6-1 in the first of the two match series in Monchengladbach on Tuesday. The matches serve as practice for the national side ahead of their 2020 Olympic qualifiers against Netherlands.

The second match will be played on Wednesday and from there the team will leave for the Dutch town of Amstelveen to play them on October 26 and 27 in the two legged qualifier.

The lone scorer from Pakis­tan was Mohammad Umar Bhutta, who reduced Ger­many’s lead when they were five up in the 47th minute.

Problems are not lessening for Pakistan anytime soon as the Green Shirts are also deprived of the services of captain Rizwan Sr. and full-back Abu Bakar Mahmood, both recovering from injuries.

Moreover, Hammad-ud-Din Anjum and goalkeeper Waqar have still not been granted visas while Mohammad Irfan is also uncertain to join the national team due to similar issues.

To replace the aforementioned players the Pakistan Hockey Federation has included Mazhar Abbas (goalkeeper), Mohammad Atiq Arshad, Amjad Ali Khan and Rizwan Jr.

from the reserves.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2019