KARACHI, March 2: Organisers once again spoiled the show on Wednesday before Pakistan-UAE Asian Cup soccer qualifying tie which irked match commissioner Alisher Muminov who would report the mismanagement to AFC.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Uzbek official was unhappy over the 20-minute delay in kick-off because of what he said as mismanagement.
Muminov said it was because of poor lighting arrangement owing to which match was delayed since there were no back-up generators arranged for proper lighting for the match played under lights at People’s Sports Complex.
“I don’t know why such things are happening. It was the problem with the lights. It took too long to put on the lights. The organisers don’t have standby generators for the lights. It is certainly not appropriate and I will report these matters to the AFC,” Muminov told Dawn.
Not only the lights created trouble, but Muminov was also furious over other mismanaged affairs like the poor markings on the field and delay in arrival of Pakistan team after break. “It’s OK at the touch-line but markings are faded from several places. It is not appropriate and needs to be reported to AFC.”
However, the official refused to comment further when asked about the quality of lights and why match kicked off despite technical problems and breach of FIFA and AFC rules.
“I can’t comment further. There will be no more comments. But I will definitely report these things,” said the official.
UAE captain Mohammed Omar also complained about the pitch, saying “it was too fast with short grass and slippery which caused problems for us, while two offside decisions were wrong but we respect referee’s decisions.”
However, UAE coach Dominque Bathenay rejected Omar’s view by saying “anything can happen in football and it was not bad field because of which we missed sitters.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan Football Federation failed to justify the absence of Pakistan team manager Ahsan Gilani’s absence from Karachi where team had been practising for some four or five days before match against UAE.
“He (Ahsan) was busy in some of his personal commitment back home and there is no particular reason for his absence,” Lt-Col Mujahid Ullah Khan, PFF director technical, told press conference when asked why team was left without manager and whether his absence was lack of concern.