KARACHI, March 11: Sweeper Yousuf Haroon has been named to lead a 20-member football squad in the Asian Cup group “E” pre-qualifiers being held at Singapore from March 21-25.

Pakistan coach Tariq Lutfi named the team on behalf of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Tuesday. Sarfraz Rasool will be the vice-captain.

Three teams Pakistan, Macau and host Singapore will be featuring in the five-day qualifiers. One top team from pre-qualifiers will move in qualifying rounds.

Pakistan team is due to leave for Thailand on Thursday where they will play a couple of warm-up games in Bangkok against local clubs before moving to Singapore for the event.

Pakistan will meet Macau in their opening match on March 25 and take on Singapore on March 25. Pakistan squad is: Goal-keepers: Jaffar Khan and Abfdul Ghani Defenders: Haroon Yousuf (Captain), Adeel Ahmed, Abrarullah, Tanvir Ahmed, Sajjad Haider, Majid Ali, Arif Masih Mid-fielders: Sarfraz Rasool (Vice Captain), Syed Nasir Ismail, Muhammad Essa, Sajjad Hussain, Zakir Hussain, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Talib Hussain. Strikers: Qadeer Ahmed, Shahid, Zahid Niaz, Aurangzeb.

Lt. Col (Retd) Mujahidullah Khan (manager) Chaudhry Abdul Rasheed (Assistant manager), M.Azam (Coordinator), Dr Irfan Lutfi (doctor) Yaqoob Baloch will be the officials of the team.

Coach Tariq Lutfi said prior to his team’s departure that his team has good chances of progressing in qualifying rounds.

He said five changes have been made in the team which appeared in the SAF Championship. He said Nasir Ismail, Muhammad Essa, Adeel Ahmed, Abrarullah and Aurangzeb are newcomers.

Tariq expressed the hope that keeping inview Pakistan’s recent performance in mind when they beat India and Sri Lanka in Dhaka, they can beat Macau.

However, he said if team played to its potential they are capable of beating Singapore as well.—APP