LAHORE, Feb 26: Pakistan play UAE in the 14th Asian Cup soccer qualifying match at Karachi’s Peoples’ Stadium instead of Multan on Wednesday.

Earlier, the match was scheduled to be held at Qasim Bagh, Multan, but the venue was not suitable because of a cricket pitch in the middle of the ground.

It will be second clash between UAE and Pakistan in the ongoing qualifiers. It will be first-ever Asian Cup encounter to be played in Pakistan.

On Feb 22, UAE scored hard-fought 1-0 win over Oman while Pakistan suffered 3-0 defeat at the hands of Jordan.

UAE one of the strongest teams of the Middle East, are currently being coached by Dominique Bathenay who played for France from 1975 to 1982 including 1978 World Cup.

The four teams taking part in Group ‘C’ qualifiers have foreign coaches. Pakistan are under former Bahrain coach Salman Ahmed Sharida. Mahmoud El-Gohary, an Egyptian, is coaching Jordan, while Oman are under Srecko Juricic of Croatia.

The qualifiers will be played on home-and-away basis. Top two teams from each group will advance. The 12 qualifiers will join the four hosts Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia at the final round which kicks off on July 9 next year.