KARACHI: Planning for the three-match Pakistan and India football series in England has culminated in just a single match between the traditional rivals.
Moved forward from July already, the matches that were recently rescheduled for Aug 20, Sept 3 and Sept 11 will now see only one clash on Sept 3, which also happens to be FIFA Day.
“It is the ideal day for holding a match after we had to scrap the other two matches,” said Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Director Marketing & Event Management Sardar Naveed Haider Khan while speaking to Dawn on Tuesday.
About the reason behind rescheduling again, the official said: “Well, we wanted to hold the matches after Ramazan so we came up with Sept 4, 7 and 11 as the new dates which suited us better but were unacceptable unfortunately to the All India Football Federation (AIFF).”
The reason given by the AIFF was that they would then have to play the match on the 11th without five of their best players as they were needed in their local league commencing around the same time.
“So we reached a compromise — just one game,” explained Naveed Haider, who is still very excited about the whole affair.
“The match will be watched by a big 35,000 crowd, not to mention the leading coaches and scouts,” he announced.
“We are really looking forward to put on a good show there. We have already called some nine foreign players as camp probables including Zesh Rehman, Atif Bashir, Adnan Farooq, Hasan Bashir, Yousuf Butt and Irfan along with other new talented players from Denmark and the USA, details of which would be revealed at a press conference on Thursday,” he said.
“The match with India won’t end our tour of the UK as we also intend to play two more matches with clubs, for which we are considering offers from several outfits,” he provided.
Pakistan delegation of 22 players and five officials, headed by Sardar Naveed Haider Khan, will leave for the UK on Aug 30 to return on Sept 8.
From PFF Media Manager, Agha Ajmal:
Coverage of Press Briefing at Football House, Lahore
I am pleased to invite you for a Press Briefing by Lt. Col. ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, General Secretary PFF and Sardar Naveed Haider Khan, Director Marketing PFF on Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 1800 hours to announce the details of Pakistan Football team tour to UK.
The press briefing will be followed by Iftari at the Football House.
Where will this match be now? Coventry, Manchester or London?
Pride Park, Derby.
Indo-Pak series fizzles down to a friendly!
KARACHI: The three-match bilateral series between the football teams of Pakistan and India has been reduced to an international friendly which will be held in Derby on September 3.
This will be the first time in history that the arch-rivals lock horns on one of the days during the calendar year that world football governing body FIFA sets aside for international friendlies in which several national teams take part in football matches.
The Director Marketing and Event Management of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Naved Haider told ‘The News’ on Wednesday that the Pakistan team will depart for England on August 30 and will face India on September 3 at the 35,000-seater Pride Park Ground.
He said that Pakistan will also play two practice games on the tour against local clubs on September 5 and 7, saying the names of the oppositions will become clear till the end of the next week.
He said that the PFF will also hold a press conference at the FIFA Football House in Lahore on Thursday (today) during which the whole details about the tour will be unveiled.
“Our ultimate aim is to give exposure to our players. It would be a great breakthrough if some clubs in England rope in our few players,” Naved said.
After the three-match series was reduced to an international friendly, it is expected that the training camp which was earlier scheduled to kick off on August 14 in Lahore will also be delayed, a team official said.
Zesh to miss India friendly
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Pakistan’s star defender Zeeshan Rehman will not be available for the national duty when the country’s football team faces India in their only international friendly game to be held at the Pride Park Ground in Derby, England, on September3.
A team official told ‘The News’ on Wednesday that the England-based defender will not be able to come to Pakistan for the preparatory camp and therefore his chances in representing Pakistan in its only match against India in Derby are also minimal.
Zeeshan had also skipped Pakistan’s second-leg of the World Cup qualifiers in Lahore recently because of his personal problems.
Meanwhile, the official also said that Denmark-based defender Nabil Aslam is also doubtful for the game in England due to his incomplete travel documents.