BAKU, Azerbaijan: Pakistan thrash the Cook Islands 7-1 at the FIFA U15 World Cup and Festival 2026, securing their place in the Tier F final at Pitch 3A of the Hovsan Competition Complex.
The Green Shirts made a flying start, with Ilhan Ali opening the scoring in the second minute to give Pakistan an early lead. But Cook Islands equalised almost immediately from a set-piece.
Pakistan responded with defender Muhammad Alam restoring their lead in the 11th minute with a long range strike before stand-in captain Kaleemullah Khan struck twice in quick succession, scoring in the 12th and 15th minutes.
Pakistan led 4-1 at half-time in a dominant display reminiscent of their 5-0 thrashing of Bahamas earlier in the day.
Danish Masih extended Pakistan’s lead in the 27th minute as the Shaheens maintained their attacking momentum after the interval. Bakshi Hamal Khan added a sixth goal in the 37th minute before Zain-ul-Abideen completed the seven-goal haul in the 39th minute.
Pakistan will now face Djibouti in one of the Tier F finals on Friday, 30 October. The match is scheduled to kick off at 1.45pm PKT on Pitch 3B with the Green Shirts aiming to end their campaign on a high.
Pakistan’s latest triumph followed a challenging start to the tournament in Group AD. A 4-2 defeat against Gambia on 24 October on opening day then saw the Shaheens face a narrow 1-0 loss to South Sudan and a 4-0 defeat against Cyprus the following day.
The U15s subsequently showed signs of improvement, recording consecutive 1-1 draws against Jordan and Nigeria on Monday to earn their first two points of the competition and reach Tier F as the bottom ranked team in their group.
Kaleemullah played a key role in both matches, scoring Pakistan’s opening goal against Jordan in the 27th minute before finding the net again against Nigeria in the 22nd minute.
Pakistan then secured their first victory of the FIFA U15 World Cup & Festival with a commanding 6-1 win over Tonga on Wednesday, ending their five-match winless run. Kaleemullah was the standout performer, scoring four goals, while Maqbool Ahmed and captain Muhammad Mustafa also got on the scoresheet.
However, Pakistan’s progress was briefly interrupted by a defeat against Nepal. After the match ended goalless in regulation time, Pakistan lost 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out.
The Green Shirts bounced back emphatically with a convincing 5-0 victory over the Bahamas before producing another impressive performance against the Cook Islands to book their place in one of the Tier F finals.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.