By Gauhar Mahmood Azeem, Editor, Lahore
Here are the Pakistani player ratings for the game against Lebanon earlier:
Saqib Hanif: 4.5/10
I’ve followed the young goal keeper for many years in the Pakistan premier league and while there is no doubting his ability, he has the knack of an error or two a game lot like calamity (David) James. Some indecisive and unnecessary rushing off his line and could’ve done better for both the first two goals. Improved in the second half.
Faisal Iqbal: 5/10
Highly experienced player. First strike was from his side of the defence. Should’ve made better clearances when chance came, didn’t provide much going forward.
Ahmad Bilal: 6/10
A brilliant tackle in the second half prevented a sure goal. One to keep for the future. Looked solid when asked a question.
M Ahmad: 6/10
The young and fit WAPDA star is an ever present in the Pakistani line up for the past 4 years and was called upon today to provide much needed experience to this young side. Did well, maybe could’ve organised the defence better. But in his defence, he’s played more at central midfield or left back during his career.
Ahsanullah: 4.5/10
Lebanon attacked his side more often than not. Made rash and hurried clearances. First goal has a cross from the right. Nearest defender for the second.
Saddam Hussein: 7.5/10
A real box to box performance from the lad. Quality in providing defensive cover and offensive options. Passing could have been better. Looks like he’s finally found his niche having played in every position part GK in the past few years.
M Riaz: 5/10
Inexperience showed and looked uncomfortable on the ball
Bilawal: 6/10
Provided good solidarity in mid field. Linked up well with Saddam and Kaleem
Mansoor: 6/10
Flashes of quality. Looks ready for the international level. Improved as game went on.
Saadullah: 5/10
Brought little to the game. Tried getting down the wing but the lack of possession and inability to put string of passes together meant he was replaced in second half.
Kaleemullah: 8/10 Top of the match
A brilliant goal. 2 great attempts on goal saved by the Lebanon goal keeper. Was a danger all night long. Captains performance. I remember him saying that the team should give him chance at centre forward. He got one today, and made full use. Destined for greatness if he keeps his feet on the ground!
Selected substitutes:
Mahmood Khan: 6/10
Came on in the second half, solidified the midfield further but maybe should’ve put more of a stamp on the game considering he’s an experienced player at AFC and international level.
Ahsanullah (GK) 7/10
A world class save in the second half after coming on for Saqib. Looked solid and definitely put his name forward for a start next time.
Sher Ali: 4.5/10
Got half an hour to impress, didn’t.
Excellent Report! You people are doing great job for the promotion of football in Pakistan. I salute your perseverance and passion for the football. You really want to see good football in Pakistan. Keep it up!
Thank you for your kind words. They mean a lot!
Saddam Hussein impressed me. He should be rated 8/10.
Saddam really puts in a lot of effort, he just needs to improve his passing accuracy to take his game to the next level.
Why is not Pakistan calling Sami Malik
Plzzzz !! The pakistan national team is a joke, they dont know how to play football, last night wen i saw there match on geo sports channel, the players dont even know the meaning of a pass ? Every freakin player wants to become a hero, score goals, the midfielders kept playing long ball game, no one think of having a little ball possesion !! ? The Lebanese crowd in the stadium were laughin at the Pakistani national team, Lebanon players were like treating the Pakistani team as a bunch of Noobs and Kids, !! What sports do they play in there training ? Kabddi ? And this is the their perfomance ?
Few players passed the ball, although nobody had a good ball possesion, or a ball control, the players lack football skill in them, although thyre physique is good.
I have a request to PFF, board please go and scout players from thr grass root level, scout players from local teams of Lahore or Karachi or in Islamabad, teams from Lahore e.g Death Row FC, Kaos Fc, Atchichison College Fc, MTFC, , pay them to play for the national team, cause they have Football skills, passing skills and ability that the pakistani idiot national team lacks, the defense is good, we could put all the current national team players at defense because they are good at clearing the ball and defending, so please change the national team midfield and attacking players, otherwise we’ll be stuck here forever..
Dear Sameer, you are saying what every new follower says. I am happy you did not watched Paki NT 3 years ago because you may have died. This is a much improved team.
And you are talking about grass root, Pakistani grass root is a crap. This is the area where we need better coaching. All the players who joined Pakistani NT were just bad (including Kaleem and Saddam), they are learning techniques from international exposure and foreign coaches.
Death Row FC, Kaos FC, Aitchison College, MTFC.
These are amateur players! They are not good enough. Well, maybe Rehan Munir is, but he chose not to play.
Playing against local sides and playing International football is a different proposition. If Kaleem played against/with Kaos FC, he could probably score 10.
If these players want to play football, tell them to play in the Pakistan Premier League!
About that Kaleem scoring 10 goals against these teams and if i told you Pakistani NT played a practice match against MTFC club team, one day before leaving for Palestine to play match with the Palestinian NT, so in that match pakistani NT could only score 1 goal till full time, it was 1-0, they played physically all the time, but MTFC club players had good ball possesion, cause they had more passing skill then the NT, im not exaggerating or telling this from any news, i was there cause im a MTFC club player, i was subbed , till the end so didnt got to play it was at City School home ground at MM alam road. So there is a big football skill difference, between the NT and the local club players.
Very nice to see you are a footballer.
No doubt Pakistan NT team was shit 3 years ago, but i still disagree i’d say theres been only just 1 percent of improvment in the team, there midfield and attack is still the same, cause when i watch them play, to me all the players seems to play like defenders cause of there immediate ball clearence, so they still sucks, since last 6 years theyre still learning ? To Pass ? LOL !
Seriously !!? What has the coaches been teaching them, all this time ? Swear to god behind the TV iv been yelling, at the players to freakin pass the ball, the moment wen they did a lil passing i felt so proud for a sec then 10 sec later again woi same haki phuki game of our players i got mad, and was abusive.
And I swear ive watched Kaleeem and Saddam since so long, theyre ball control still hasnt improved and yet you say they are still learning ? I mean, common man kids of age 14 years old at MTFC academy have much better ball control then them, Pak NT play like the 18th Century Football, running with the ball alone like an idiot and not passing to anyone.
No way, how many goals Pakistan NT scored in 2011, and how many in 2013???
Regarding Pakistan NT vs Local clubs, I will disagree with you. Just see how nationa player perform in Pakistan Premiere league. For example, KRL had the narrowest time with back to back matches. THey returned from President cup when almost one third of the league had been played. Most of the team fail to retain crown after trying on highest level (especially when they do not have history). KRL struggled too, but the expereince and “determination” retained their crown, and they had 6 national team players.
Some of local academies are definitely producing high quality because they have better coaches then we had 5 to 10 years ago. That is why our U-14 and U-16 have performed recently on international level.
And the brightest thing from 2013, equavelant to KRL interantional success, that U-16 played National Cup and made to last 16.
Our next generations are having good skills and technicalities.
>>Quoted sameer>>
at the players to freakin pass the ball, the moment wen they did a lil passing i felt so proud for a sec then 10 sec later again woi same haki phuki game of our players i got mad, and was abusive.
>>end quote
Yes I agree, passing and ball control skills were poor, Pakistan has to work on.
>>Quoted sameer>>
Pak NT play like the 18th Century Football, running with the ball alone like an idiot and not passing to anyone.
>>end quote
Yes they did play like that. Pakistan has to work on building team work rather than individual game. They should learn telepathic passing to each other. And creating moves.
They should watch complete matches of top teams like Manchester City, R.Madrid, Barcelona, B.Munich, etc, not highlights but complete matches. And should learn their game play, game plane, how the make moves, how they counter etc.
Dear Raza
Register your club and take the best players from the clubs that you have mentioned and play your club in league. Defiantly if you produce best players then your club player will be selected in NT.
The teams i mentioned dont officially play in any leagues, they just play on weekend cause all the players are like studying and doing courses achieveing different careers but to be honest ive played against these teams and there passing abilities and ball control is way better then the national team,
The amazing thing is that its just lahore that it got kids with such incredible talent and its booming, wonder how much talent there could be in whole Pakistan, if they search.
Only if PFF takes a keen interest and scout those players themselves and pay them a substantial amount of money to economically support their families they could prove to be big future football stars of Pakistan.
Those team cant register their clubs cause they arent official or permanent, they are just temporary clubs, and even if they do register their club that means its a full time job and you need to get payed as well, and the wages are just too low for any player to economically live, so yeah they wont register if they doesnt pay them good, and thays why they play on just weekend for fun.
I am OK with this result. Pakistani team was young and experimental. Most of them played together for the first time, against a strong opponent and they played an away game. Nice to see senior players played good. This game is a good boost for theses players and Pakistan Premiere League too.
Still confused whether first goal came from right or left. Who is Mansoor (ranked 6/10)???
I searched match video on web but did not find. can some one share with me pak lebanon match video link?