Alam Zeb Safi – The News
KARACHI: In a bid to give final touches to their preparations for the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the Pakistan football team will fly out of Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok on Sunday (today) to play a couple of practice matches during their week-long stay there.
“Yes, we will leave for Bangkok at 1 pm local time tomorrow and will reach there at 2:30 pm Bangkok time,” Pakistan team manager Asghar Khan Anjum told ‘The News’ from Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Pakistan will face a club from the Thai Premier League on March 3 and Thailand’s Olympic side on March 5 before returning home on March 7.
On March 9, the Green-shirts will depart for Doha to face Yemen in their away leg of the World Cup qualifiers on March 12.
The second leg will be conducted at Lahore on March 17.
Former Fulham defender Zeeshan Rehman is expected to join the team in Bangkok.
“The coach Mohammed Shamlan is in contact with him. There is a chance of a meeting with Zesh before our departure for Bangkok tomorrow. Hopefully, he will join us in Thailand,” Asghar said.
Zesh, who is with his club Pahang FA in Myanmar, will return to Malaysia on Sunday (today).
About the experienced Bahrain-based defender Mohammad Ahmed Asghar said it was not yet clear when he would join the side.
“Shamlan feels if Ahmed comes directly to Doha it will be better. The time is short and it would be of no use if he goes to Lahore,” Asghar said.
Ahmed told this correspondent from Bahrain that he had not yet got clearance letter from his club.
“We will play a league match on Monday. The PFF has already sent a letter to the club and I am waiting for its clearance letter which I hope I will get soon,” Ahmed said.
“After the club will release me it will then depend on coach Shamlan and PFF to decide where I will have to join the team,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed plays for Bahraini club ISA Town FC, who play in Bahrain’s second-tier.
Kyrgyzstan-based players Kaleemullah, Mohammad Adil and Saddam Hussain were scheduled to land in Lahore on Saturday night.
“They have boarded a plane and are coming,” an official of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) said.
“Tight effort would be made to get visas for them on Monday. If it weren’t to be possible, they may not be sent to Bangkok and will practice here at Lahore for a few days,” the official said.
“If their visas are issued, they could be sent on Monday,” the official said.
Around a dozen of Under-23 players are undergoing training at Lahore under coach Sajjad Mehmood.
As many as 15 Under-23 players are in Kuala Lumpur who would join the Lahore-based probables in the camp which will resume immediately at the end of Pakistan’s senior team’s World Cup qualifying round against Yemen. The same Under-23 lot will appear in the 2016 AFC Under-23 Championship qualifiers Group B to be hosted by Pakistan in Lahore from March 23 to 31. Jordon, Kuwait, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan are in Pakistan’s group.
The preparations are about to become shambolic. The whole squad should have been together by now. If everyone has not joined the team at least a full day before the final friendly match, then I will have no confidence in our ability to beat Yemen.
Also, the March 3rd friendly should be purely U-23. Hassan Bashir, Nabil Aslam, and any other senior players should not participate in that match. We need to prepare our team for the U-23 qualifiers after all.
they are shambolic because its not on fifa week, we dont have 2 separate teams or coaches therefore we cant even ask to move our qualifiers on fifa week to accommodate our best players to field best team because in that fifa week we have u23 games under the same coach/majority squad. pakistan now must get to grips with modern international football and deal with adapting to the needs of foreign based players and clubs who can only release players at certain times in line with fifa rules. in the past euro guys got lot of stick for it but now pff/coaches are understanding it when the same rules apply to kaleem,adil,saddam and ahmed etc.
as for u23 preps, not sure if they need anything more, they have had entire 2014 to prepare with plenty of matches, focus should be senior team alone, those u22 playing in that line up are bonus for the u22 qualifiers.
it was that u22 focus in 2014 that meant we couldnt play proper senior games, meant our rankings fell and now we are having to play this pre-qualifiers.
We could easily have had 2 teams and coaches. Shehzad Anwar is a good coach and there are many very capable domestic and foreign players who were not selected.
Regardless, the point still stands, that the preparations so far have not inspired much confidence. If the whole squad is not together before the final friendly in Thailand, then there will be a huge lack of chemistry between the players and also between the coaching staff and the players.
Against Yemen, I would give starting roles only to the players who are able to participate in the final friendly match, even if it is Zesh, Kaleem, or Muhammad Ahmed who has to stay on the bench. That way the chemistry of the team will be better and the final result will be better, in my opinion. Football is not an individual sport. Its all about how the individual talents combine on the pitch.
As for the U23, there are several players in that squad that have not played in 2014. Also, there were a few senior players in the squad in 2014 that can not participate in the U23 qualifiers. So it would be better to use one of the Thailand friendlies to allow the U23 squad some match practice as a unit.
All the Best, INSHALLAH we will win this time