Pakistan on brink of AFC U22 qualifiers exit after Kyrgyz loss

1. India drew 1-1 with UAE. India still has chance to qualify for the finals. Allah will help India for sure.

   1. that’s a solid result for India. now it all depends on what results they can get from the Turkmenistan and Oman games. finishing in Top 2 remains out of question, but India can have a huge shout as best 3rd place side in all groups to make to the championship finals next year.

      1. India will win matches against Oman and turk with a better difference. It is for sure that Iraq is going to beat UAE and Oman. So, India will qualify for the finals as runner up from the group

      2. Who said India are out of the question finishing top 2? don’t be so arrogant and naive and silly..You aint God and neither are you an expert…What if India finish top? then that? dont assume, its people like you which gives Pakistanis a bad rep let alone the national team, you assume too much thinking you know it all but you don’t…Dont be so arrogant gullible, naive, easily lead and bitter or jelous.

         1. you do realise that India is currently 4th in the group with 4 points from 3 games right? you also realise that Iraq has 9 points, UAE has 7 points, and Oman has 6 points right?

            India cannot finish in top 2 unless somehow Iraq and UAE miraculously drop points in the final 2 matches.

            its fair to say Iraq and UAE have more or less got the top 2 spots confirmed because UAE will most likely beat Lebanon tonight, and Iraq is strong enough to beat Oman. Then they face each other in final game of group and their qualification spots are likely confirmed.

            India has to beat Turkmenistan tonight and hope Iraq beat Oman to favour their chances. India will probably win tonight, but the game against Oman will be tricky.

            So like I said, India getting 3rd place is far more realistic than topping the group! In fact, if I may dare say, India has been a major surprise this tournament and its good for their progress.

            nothing to do with “arrogance” “stupidity” “naive” etc. We know our south asian football enough :)

2. I think the coach should not have changed the captain at this crucial time. It is a fact that Kaleem Ullah is one of the emerging new players for Pakistan and one should be optimistic about his game. There is no doubt that each team participating in this competition comes with full preparation. If we consider the international ranking of the participating teams, one will see a clear distinction between Pakistan’ ranking and other competing teams. In this regard, I may suggest the coach to restore and repose the trust on Kaleem Ullah. The result of the match would have been different, if the coach had not changed the captain. I hope the coach will reconsider his decision and would encourage Kaleem Ullah to go ahead with his team. I firmly believe he will give results this time.

   1. captain change was not good.defence need education,marit will also matter.every attached coach wants his relitive player should play.

   2. after watching Kaleem Ullah flounder at every opportunity for last 2 years, rest assured it just shows how bad our PPL standard really is when it makes players like him and Jadeed Khan Pathan shine at home and become very poor abroad!

3. I think its the right decision to drop kaleem Ullah as captain and also as a player. This player despite performing best for his team KRL in local competition cant buy a goal in internationals at any level. I have now seen 7-8 full games of him and he continues to show how ordinary he is. Either way the Zavisa experiment is failing just like the Lutfi experiment, and the reason is lack of technical knowledge of both the coaches. At best Zavisa is an ordinary coach and might be better then Lutfi but just slightly..one conceded a lot of goals the others team cant score a single goal. Root Level is where pakistan need to start. All over and over again.

   1. Kareem Ullah is NOT a national player, meaning he cannot compete against the likes of Saudis, Kyrgyzstanis, Omanis or even Afghans…Afghanistan is improving rapidly and so is India… Pakistani players are only good at local level.. At least the foreign players are more civilized so the more civil you are the more awareness and vision you have aswell as using your intelligence, but local players do not have an open mind, when you do not have an open mind you do not use your head properly on the football pitch, they do not know how to make space for your players, how to take away defenders and players from the opposition, how to over-lap, how to pass the ball quickly and 1 touch,, at least foreign players including Pakistani foreign born can use their brain….

      Kareem Ullah is not a international player obviously and neither are any of the current Pakistani national players…Pakistan is one the countries where it has a bad rep as being uncivilized, un-intelligent and selfish, this transfers on the pitch too like Football/Soccer because you need intelligence in football and not just pace, skill etc…You need to know how to pass the ball, play one touch, make space, have movement etc, its a reason why Cacasian/Europeans/South Americans and any white and some western born players are superior, its a reason wht western teams win world cups, european championships, just look at Austrailia ripping apart Asia with venom and they only joined few years ago and plus Football/Soccer is not their first game like it is with Asia, so the more advanced people you are the bettr you are in almost everything.

      1. long story short, its about our lack of a genuine structure at domestic level and lack of professionalism.

         1. One cannot only blame on structure and lack of professionalism, our team has applyed two foerign coaches they pick some football and they trained them but results are nill. and secondly we are not playing with world best team in the world for which you are saying that we have structure problems, we are playing third class football team in the world.
            sri lanka, plestine, kergistan, seriya never played world cup matches and they their football structure may be is more bad than us, but they are better than our team, why???????????????. so there a many things which we need to consider and rectify.
            I BELEIVE IN IF ANY TEAM OF PLAYERS WORK HARD YOU CAN CLEARLY SEEN HIS HARDWORKING IN HIS GAME

            1. Arabian and Central Asian sides have always traditionally been quite good in football. You need to know how Asian football works before ranting on Pakistani football :)

4. Kaleemullah was not in form so dropping him might not be the bad idea. It might boost him to perform better in next matches

5. Zavisa needs to go…He has to be sacked.,..Hes done NOTHING good with Pakistan team…We need a new manager Inshallah..

   1. Still better than Lutfi and Akhtar sahibs.

      1. for God sake, now, there is not any reason to utter the name of foreigner coach, you have seen the results of ROBERTO and now Zavisa. We can see some possibility of coaches from middle east country, may be, or might they could be effective. there are thousand of ways to improve the striking ability but no any coach is using his ability in the area of frontline, it is also fact that pakistan football has improve alot and now the passing and standard of football has increased in pakistan but we have always problem in finishing and defence for the last many years.

6. Zavisa needs to stay not go. He was been coach for only a few months. You can’t change much in such a short time. Plus remember this is the u22 team not the senior team. Personally I think we have a good future in football. I hope zavisa spends more time with the boys who were in the u16 saff team. I watched some highlight of their matches and their is some really good raw talent their. My hope is Zavisa works with the young boys, and I hope they become good technical players. As for the U22 and the senior players well as they say “you can’t teach a old dog new tricks”. Besides bringing in foreign born players into the u22 and senior team, their isn’t much that zavisa or any other coach will be able to do. Our only hope is developing players at a young age.

   1. exactly! he’s been with the team for not more than 3 months continuously. the result is disappointing not because of his coaching, but because the players he has are simply not good enough! even PFF agrees on it:

      Pak U22 out of Asian Cup Qualifiers

      Alam Zeb Safi
      Saturday, June 30, 2012
      The News

      KARACHI: Pakistan Under-22 football team crashed out of 2013 Asian Cup Qualifiers after going 0-2 down against Kyrgyzstan in their vital Group B match at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday night.

      This was the second loss for the Greenshirts from three matches, which ended their chance to make a place in the next year’s tournament proper.

      Pakistan lost 0-1 to hosts Saudi Arabia and managed only a goalless draw against Sri Lanka, which put them in a difficult situation and the game against Kyrgyzstan was a real test of their nerves, but they failed to get through it successfully.

      The defeat has left a big question mark on the future of Pakistan football.

      There should be no excuse as the authorities had provided the team with all the necessary training opportunities both at home and abroad. The team made good preparation for two and a half months, touring Thailand, Palestine and Bahrain for practice matches.

      Kyrgyzstan, who had lost both their previous shows before the match against Pakistan, played well against Zavisa Milosavljevic’s boys.

      Pakistan started the game without their out- of-form and injured skipper Kaleemullah who was criticised by the coach for lack of commitment after the draw against Sri Lanka.

      In the first half, Pakistani goalie Saqib Hanif as usual played impressively, saving a few real chances. He has been the only impressive player in the Pakistan’s line-up in the qualifiers.

      At half time, the match was evenly poised without any goal. After the breather, Pakistan managed a few nice rallies from the wings but failed to create any good chance.

      Kyrgyzstan took the initiative when Kaiumzhan put them ahead in the 73rd minute before Nurkal Sataev doubled their lead after five minutes.

      In the dying moments, the Greenshirts went all out but failed to reduce the deficit.

      Now, Pakistan, who have just one point from three games, will face strong Syria in their next match on Saturday (today) at 10:45pm PST.

      In other matches on Saturday, Saudi Arabia will lock horns with Sri Lanka, while Palestine will meet Kyrgyzstan.

      In other matches on Thursday night, Syria crushed Sri Lanka 4-0, while Saudi Arabia whipped Palestine 4-0 to remain unbeaten in the tournament. Both virtually moved into the Asian Cup as they have nine points each from three matches.

      Kyrgyzstan, after beating Pakistan, moved to the third place with three points. Sri Lanka have two and Pakistan and Palestine have one point each.

      Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) secretary Col Ahmad Yar Khan Lodhi said that he was not satisfied with the performance of the team. “It’s not a good result at all. Pakistan should not have lost to Kyrgyzstan and at least they should have won against Sri Lanka,” Lodhi told ‘The News’ on Friday.

      But he was quick to add that with the foreign coach the team has turned into a disciplined unit which is a good sign.

      He said that Zavisa would be given time as he has been with the team for hardly three months.

      http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-10-117685-Pak-U22-out-of-Asian-Cup-Qualifiers

7. Zavisa had free hand to prepare the football team and for the last one year he watch thousand of domestic palyers, and i dont belive that pakistan dont have a single striker from these thousands of players. I think it is Zavisa coach fault that inspite of knowing that pakistan has problem in front line and defence he did not or could not pick good striker during this whole year even he has tested many palyers during friendlies matches. I purely blame to coach that he failed to pick good stricker during this time. and if he did not find any good sticker in pakistani football then it was the responsibility of coach to trained stricker which he could not produce. I am not a techinal football but i think if any stricker hit and try to hit the ball in the goal post again and again there is always possibility to score a goal, but here pakistan frontline never kick the ball on target even they dont try to kick the ball within the goal post. ACCORDING TO ME A STRICKER ATLEAST MUST TRY WITHIN THE GOAL POST EITHER YOU GET A GOAL OR NOT BUT MUST TRY. BUT PAKISTAN PLYER DONT HAVE HABBIT TO TRY AND HIT THE BALL ON TARGET, THAT IS ASO TRAGIDY WITH PAKISTANI TEAM. And now it is the coach responsibilty to guide and modivate the palyers to atleast try to strike the ball on traget which i never see. I wached KRL matchs of President Cup in which 9 pakistan team players were palying and there was the same problem pakistan played 80 munites play in the half of Mangolia team’s half but they same porblem, they dont shoot and try the ball within the goal post. What can i say now, according to me coach has failed 100 percent and he could not fullfill his responsibility. and he should leave now, according to me a good coach is required who can modivate the frontline. Untill we are better to go with a local coach and the money which we are spending on a non-effective foreign coaches should spend in defferent area of pakistani football.

   1. same old problem with fickle fans..one bad tournament and we throw the toys out of pram..

      fact is he didnt get to watch tousands of players..we dont even have thousand players playing at good standard in whole of the country..he picked what he watched and what his coached suggested..we do have strikers in pakistan who score goals but the matter of fact is they are not good enough for this standard and that is because our domestic system is easy and poor quality that players score there easily and struggle when play for pakistan..thats not zavisa’s fault..that pervez mir’s fault..since he took the office we have gone from bad to worse…
      also zavisa need to pick players who are atleast ok..because he can keep playing matches with these players and give them exposure but we wont benefit..they are average players and he can make OK at best…not good or very good..and they will go back and play same crap PPL and wont make any improvement on it..

      also not having overseas players was a huge blow..it was poor management from pff and some issues from players side..which should not be dealt same way in the future..

      @shania those are just silly points made from ur side…it was pakistan article, our indian friend commented about india and we gave an honest comment on what we saw..because india is doing well in the group yet some teams had the advantage going into the final 2 games..we enjoy some great banter and analysis with our indian friends on this website and on their websites..so what you pointed out was pure baseless stuff…its such comments and knee jerk reaction that is sad. if u dont like the whats written then feel free not to comment after all the article wasnt dicussing indian football..

      but as always we do welcome feedback and debate from our indian friends…its good for the football in the region.

      1. @Aslam73, please do bother reading shah’s comment here :)

         we have been following Pak football long enough to understand how our system actually works (or doesnt work if that’s what you like).

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