KARACHI, Dec 9: Pakistan soccer coach Salman Ahmed Sharida said on Friday his side lacked mental toughness and experience which was evident from the below par performance against Afghanistan in the second half.

“The players need experience and mental toughness. They lack these things because of no exposure. It will take some time to progress. There must be good coaches and infrastructure then they can perform even better,” he told a post-match press conference.

“As I will watch my players playing more and more, I will have a fair idea about their talent and worth. That will help in making a formidable squad. But as we have now gained three points, I am happy that we will play semifinals.

“I am surprised the way Afghanistan recovered after 9-1 loss to Maldives in their first match. They were more organized and I must give credit to them and their coach who gave the plan,” he said.

Sharida said he had also given a game plan to his players who failed to execute the drills and tactics as told.

The Bahraini said as the field was wide open for the participants it would be hard to predict anything about third and last group match against Maldives and the semifinal clash.

“Maldives are a good side. They had been performing very well. But anything could happen anytime. You never know. I am looking forward to playing Maldives now.”

“I would like to win. That’s all I want. Be it India or Bangladesh in the semifinals. It doesn’t matter. I am looking to win and play final,” Sharida said when asked would he like to play India or Bangladesh if they qualify for semifinals.

Afghanistan’s German coach Klaus Staerk was delighted over fighting performance by his side.

“It was really difficult to recover after 9-1 loss to Maldives but our players did recover and fought hard. I am satisfied and happy with their performance.”

Staerk wished to win against Sri Lanka in the last group match. “It will be a big thing if we win against Sri Lanka,” said coach adding that real potential was yet to be discovered as even capital Kabul did not have a stadium in a proper condition.