PFF chief announces 20-player squad

LAHORE—Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat on Friday has announced twenty players for Pakistan team which will play United Arab Emirates in 14th Asian Cup Qualifier (Group-C) second leg at Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed Bin Zayid Stadium. The 90-minute encounter will be kicked-off at 6:15 PM on 15 November. The name of skipper and his deputy will be announced on 12 November. “UAE are 71 places above us in World Ranking and are formidable under famous Frenchman Bruno Metsu.
They won the first leg between two nations 4-1 at Karachi last March but we hope to take revenge as 13 players of the team belongs to U23 team that won the gold in 10th South Asian Games at Colombo last August,” said Faisal Saleh Hayat who is also member of AFC Disciplinary Committee and Federal Minister for Environment.
PFF opened exit door for defender Yasir Sabir (NBP), striker Imran Hussain (Army) and midfielder Saeed Ahmed (Quetta) who were in the squad that played at Lahore against Jordan last month.
National Bank of Pakistan’s Abdul Aziz, double-gold medallist of SAF Games in 2004 and 2006, had been recalled by Pakistani Bahrain-based coach Salman Ahmed Sharida while defender Akber Ali and front-runner Adnan Bari are well poised to make international debut. Adnan will wear national color for the first time while Akber represented Pakistan in age-group events in 2003. KRL provided seven players to national team, followed by Army and WAPDA whose five and three players are being selected respectively. KESC and NBP’s two and one player from Navy are in the squad.
The 20-player Pakistani soccer squad will be comprised of Goalkeepers (2) Jaffar Khan (Army), Muhammad Shahzad (Navy) Defenders (8) Tanveer Ahmed (WAPDA), Naveed Akram (WAPDA), Mohammad Imran (Army), Samar Ishaq (KRL), Akber Ali (KESC), Abbas Ali (NBP), Muhammad Irfan (KRL), Ejaz Ahmed (Army) Midfielders (5) Imran Niazi (WAPDA), Mubashar Hussain (Army), Muhammad Rasool (KRL), Muhammad Waseem (KRL), Abdul Aziz (NBP), Strikers (5) Muhammad Essa (KRL), Shahid Ahmed (KRL), Shakir Lashari (KESC), Adeel Ahmed (KRL) and, Adnan Bari (Army).
The officials of Pakistani team will be Muhammad Irfan Khan Niazi (Manager), Salman Ahmed Sharida (Coach), Muhammad Rasheed (Assistant Coaches), Muhammad Afzal (Goal-keeping Coach) and Dr. Kamran Mehdi (Physiotherapist).—Agencies