Lahore, 11 March : “I am sure that Zeshan Rehman (Muangthong United FC, Thailand) and Atif Bashir (Barry Town FC, Wales) together are rated as most exciting central defenders in South Asia. Atif was outstanding during Colombo’s AFC Challenge Cup 2009 while I was really impressed with the potential of Zeeshan during SAFF Championship 2005. Zesh had never represented Pakistan under my coaching but I have records that he played SAFF Championship brilliantly at Karachi six years ago under Bahraini coach Salman Shareeda and missed the next at Maldives last year due to food poising. This defender, favorites to join me for coming AFC Challenge Cup mission along with Atif, has enormous talent and enough capability to re-join Pakistan after playing his last international for Pakistan at Syria two years ago, blocking all Iraqis attacks in World Cup Qualifier 0-0 draw” this is stated by Pakistan National team Tariq Lutfi who was manager of Pakistan team in 2005 when Zeshan made international debut for Pakistan.
Pakistan will take on Turkmenistan (21 March), India (23 March) and Chinese Taipei (25 March) in Group-B encounters of 4th AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers at Kuala Lumpur. “Due to his Pakistani parentage, and because he possessed dual Pakistani and British nationality, Rehman qualified to represent Pakistan, and he eventually opted to play for them, as he considered it to be a more realistic option.”added PFF’s Secretary General Lt.Col ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi.
Nicknames Zesh, he is an English Pakistani football defender who was the first British Asian to start a Barclays Premier League match and is the first to have played in all four divisions of professional football in England. He was the first Pakistani international footballer to play professional football in England. He is now with Muangthong United FC, a Thai football club based in Nonthaburi Province and owned by Siam Sport Syndicate and others private investors. The club currently play in the Thai Premier League.
“I watched him play for Pakistan against four teams in SAFF 2005 when the team conceded only a goal (that too on penalty) in 360 minutes. But I have to take more time to see Birmingham-born defender in more actions so that his actual competency could be known as far as representation of national team is concerned with battery of domestic/home players. He joined Thai team after 2009-10 season with Bradford City, scoring two goals in 48 matches,” added Tariq who called eight overseas players Yousof Ejaz Butt (Birkerod IF Skjold, Denmark), Atif Bashir Qureshi (Barry Town, Wales), Reis Ashraf (Buckingham Town FC), Yaqoob Ijaz Butt (Herlev Idrætsforening FC, Denmark), Zeeshan Rehman (Muangthong United FC, Thailand), Irfan Khan (Bradford Park Avenue Association Football Club, England), Kashif Mumtaz Siddiqui (Fresno Fuego, USA ), Adnan Farooq Ahmed (Aboomoslem FC, Iran) to join 29 home-grown booters.
Rehman signed a two-year deal with Thai side on 19 December 2010, making debut debut 41 days later in the King’s Trophy against Chonburi Sharks at the Suphachalasai Stadium. His appearance made him the first British Asian and Pakistan international to play in Thailand.
Zesh, now 27, praised Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat’s directives to ask Tariq monitor the overseas footballers of Pakistani origin who are interested in playing for Pakistan and also those who have already played for Pakistan but are still unknown.
“I will never forget 7 December 2005 when I made international debut for Pakistan against Lankans at Karachi’s Peoples Sports Complex during 6th SAFF championship. You have to dream big and remember anything is possible with hard work, faith and belief. Pakistan conceded only one goal during four games of the event. I also want to see the whole infrastructure of Pakistani football improve and see more players from other countries decide to represent Pakistan. My ambitions for Pakistan are to reach last 32 of World Cup one day Insha Allah. Hopefully, we can achieve this while I am still a player, if not then I would love to be the coach that does it.
“Football on Thai soil is going fine, I am gaining more experience all the time and previously have worked under nine managers and played for six English clubs Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Norwich City, Queens Park Rangers, Blackpool and Bradford city during last seven years. In terms of gaining more experience it was exactly what I needed and one of the reasons I moved around England from 2004 to 2010. Now I am Thai club player under Portugal-born coach Henrique Manuel da Silva Calisto.
Looking forward to see Zesh and Atif play for Paksitan together
Brilliant news at least this one because i know if he asks these players to leave for lack of seriousness then i know whats coming his way:-p
I now hope that we wud top the group ;)
i think God as almighty have heard me by some how puting dat in PFF mind to call all da skillful players..am sure we are on ourway to pierce thru now in any group stage and do big time upsets….GO TEAM PAKISTAN GO…
Atleast Lutfi sound much better coach than Akhtar Mohiyudin. All he needs is to bring attacking flair and attacking sprit. He should pick players from overseas who are match fit and have ability to perform. Inclusion of these players will speak of performance after AFC Challenge. We are in tough group but it does not mean we can’nt progress to next round. With good strategy and attack play Pakistan can still progress along with inclusion of expatriate players in our team.
pakistan should play total football and not long balls.must be able dribble through defence.
Lutfi should take Kashif or Adnan as striker becuase our local strikers are not aqurate and shoot the ball off target and waisted. so we could not score the goals in previous matches.
I so agree to you Mr. Sabeeh.
Adnan is not accurate either, just look at his highlights video
Yeah, Adnan is a horrible finisher. He always shoots with a lot of power, but no accuracy. His strength is ball control and passing.
abdulsidd what you think of Kashif on the left wing? I think it would be a good fit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jLto2WTVBw
Kashif Adnan Mehmood Rizwan/Arif
Not bad. Composed player. That is the main thing which our domestic guys lack. Composure. Our guys panic very quickly. Of course, the level at which Kashif is playing isn’t comparable to international, but it is at the level of the PPL. I would prefer to use Kashif at LB since I am not comfortable with Ahsanullah’s defending. However, Ahsanullah is good going forward and fairly composed on the ball, so he should be used at LM with Kashif at LB.
But I feel the best formation for Pakistan would be a 4-3-3. If Zesh joins the team, then he can play LB while Kashif plays DM and distributes the ball.
This is a very professional & mature step ahead; by PFF & guess what, we should play atleast 5 to 6 over-sea players in the playing XI. otherwise if we go only with 2 or 3 over-seas players, it will not do us any good like how we have seen it in the past.
Also, the playing XI should play a few practice matches before they get into the tournament. This has happened in the past that a new team is created & without playing any games together, they are just thrown into the tournament … & then we expect them to give us results. Do U see any logic over here.
Pakistan football followers have seen this in the past that the new team which they create; gets better & better every next game they play but by the time they’ve played 3 matches & shown some real improvement – sadly its late by then. So, this team needs a few pratcice matches for sure… & with good teams !!!
Pakistan is playing a practice match against Brazil next week…
@ Rahat… definetely someday…. Inshallah… Who knows !!!
Great news for Pakistan Football.