by Faizan Lakhani
The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Monday announced the 23-member squad for this month’s Asian Football Confederation Under-19 (AFC U19) championship qualifiers to be played in Oman from November 22nd.
According to a PFF official, Kahuta Research Laboratories’s (KRL) Zaid Omer has been named captain while Islamabad’s Mamoon Musa Khan has been named as Zaid’s deputy for the event.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in Karbala from second November however it was rescheduled and relocated due to the law and order situation in Iraq.
The management of Pakistan U19 Football team included three goal keepers; Salman ul Haq, Mohammad Ibrar and Huzaifa Sikandar for the tour.
Mamoon Musa Khan, Ali Imran, Saeed Khan, Asadullah, Mohammad Sohail and Mohammad Shiraz Ayub were selected as defenders for the AFC U19 Pakistan team.
Eight mid-fielders; Alamgir Ali Khan Ghazi, Shayak Dost, Mohammad Bilal, Asad Ali, Tauqir ul Hassan, Mohammad Saleh, Zaid Omar and Jawad Akbar were chosen by the PFF to represent Pakistan.
Forwards Aqib Ali, Muhammad Waheed, Farhan Khan, Mohammad Abdullah, Mazhar Ghaffar and Mohammad Zubair Aslam are also part of the 23 member squad.
Head coach of Pakistan U19 team Nasir Ismail is hopeful that the Pakistani footballers will achieve a better result in the tournament.
“We have picked the best possible squad and the players underwent a month-long training session so they are gelled well. I am hoping for a better result,” he said.