Natasha Raheel – Express Tribune
The 22-year-old Kaleemullah can easily be termed the best emerging football star in the country.
The Chaman-based striker made his mark this year for the national side in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup qualifiers and the South Asian Football Championship, but also for his club Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), as they became the first Pakistani team to play the AFC President’s Cup final.
Kaleemullah scored a goal in March for Pakistan to ensure the consolation win in the Challenge Cup against Macau 2-0 and later in the SAFF Championship with a goal against Bangladesh.
But his true potential came through in the AFC President’s Cup, when he scored seven goals for KRL in the three rounds of the tournament, before making it to the final in September.
He scored five goals against Bhutan’s Yeezdin FC in the President’s Cup first round match in May, and later scored the all-important winner against Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi FC in the opening match of the second round of the tournament in September.
Kaleemullah was also the scorer in the crucial match against Palestine’s Hilal Al-Quds FC that helped KRL to book their place in the President’s Cup final against Turkmenistan’s Balkan FC, which they lost 1-0.
Despite the defeat, Kaleemullah remained the second highest goal scorer in the President’s Cup with seven international goals.
Kaleemullah’s journey throughout the year remained an exciting one, just like the overall scenario of Pakistan football that saw another change at the helm with Bahraini Mohamed Shamlan’s appointment as coach in August. He replaced Serbia’s Zavisa Milosavljevic as head coach after Pakistan’s devastating defeat 0-3 against Afghanistan in a friendly before Saff Championship.
Pakistan struggled in the AFC Challenge Cup, losing two out of three matches in March, and later failed to qualify for the SAFF Championship semi-finals. But the team improved on their rankings from 189 in January 2012 to 172 in December.
Pakistan’s best ranking was 167 this year in November. They won five, drew three and lost six out of the 14 matches played in 2013.
You did not mentioned his performance in Pakistan Premiere League where he led his team KRL to the title, winning highest goal scorer and scoring 3 hatricks (may be 4 i do not remember exactly) in that season. He ended 2013 with another hatrick though.
Yes, Tribune should have mentioned that.
KALEEM IS PLAYER OF THE YEAR. 2013 has been fantastic for Pakistan as Pakistan improved local talent in addition to foreign players. The FIND OF THE YEAR SHOULD BE FROM;
1. Atif Bashir
2. Yousuf Butt
3. Adil
Atif did not play for Pakistan this year, he’s been out injured.
I think you mean Hassan Bashir. But since he made his debut in 2012, I think you wouldn’t count that as the find the year. But yes, he has emerged as Pakistan’s most potent goal threat.
Yousuf’s quality has been evident for quite sometime, but finally that has allowed him to become the Pakistan # 1.
Adil has been awesome this year, hopefully he can sign for a club outside Pakistan soon.
Yes I meant Hassan. The players I mentioned played before but they cemented their place in the team in 2013. All the 3 are very good and came at very crucial time
Definitely. Let’s hope they get more games together in 2014.