Bahrain beat Pakistan 2-1

KARACHI: Just days before going into the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers first round against Cambodia Pakistan football team had good practice when they went 1-2 down while fighting against Bahrain Under-23 team in a friendly game at National Stadium Bahrain on Tuesday night.

Having missed all Denmark-based players due to their clubs commitment, Pakistan team gave tough fight to Bahrain’s second-best bunch in a hotly-contested battle. Pakistan’s coach Jose Antonio Nogueira was happy with the way the boys played.

“It had positives for us. Mostly young boys had been fielded and they played well,” Nogueira told ‘The News’ on Wednesday.

“Pakistan was playing its first game since last December. We used two goalkeepers including Ahsanullah and Muzammil and I am happy both played well,” Nogueira said. Danish gloveman Yousuf Butt, who will be the frontline keeper in the qualifiers, was not part of the team because of his club commitment. The coach hopes that his team was in a position to put in its best against Cambodia in the qualifiers. “With the last few days of training I am hopeful that we are going to do better against Cambodia,” Nogueira said.

All Denmark-based players will re-join the squad before it will leave for Cambodia.

Pakistan will face Cambodia in the first leg at the latter’s backyard on June 6. Pakistan will then host its home leg at Doha on June 11. The lowest-ranked 12 teams of Asia have been placed in the qualifiers first round and the six winners would join the 34 best Asian sides in the second round to be held in September.

England-born Samir Nabi received a minor injury during the match. In the fast-paced outing under floodlights Ahmed Fahim provided Pakistan with the lead in the sixth minute when he was fed superbly by England-born young Guiseley AFC winger Tabish Hussain.

Bahrain leveled it just before half time. And after 50 minutes Bahrain hit the winner. Pakistan also got a good chance to level the score but the referee disallowed a fine attempt from the visitors when the ball, after deflecting off the post, crossed the goal-line before the hosts’ defender clearing it.

Former Fulham defender Zeeshan Rehman will join Pakistan squad in Manama on Thursday (today). Zesh, also a former Pakistan captain, was playing for his club Southern in the Hong Kong FA Cup concluded recently. Zesh’s club lost to Kitchee 2-0 in the final on May 25. Pakistan are scheduled to fly out of Bahrain for Cambodia on June 3. After playing the first leg Pakistan will come down to Doha and will get four days to practice before their home leg. The qualifiers are going to be held at a time when Pakistan’s football is in deep turmoil. Besides Bahrain’s camp, which is being supervised by FIFA-recognised Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), Ashfaq-led PFF has also held a parallel camp in Islamabad which has engaged some of the key players who will miss such a big opportunity of playing in World Cup qualifiers.

A FIFA-AFC joint mission interviewed both the groups during its two-day stay at Lahore until late Wednesday in order to reach to a conclusion what should be the way forward for resolving the long-standing dispute. Because of the issue Pakistan last March also missed the 2020 Olympics Qualifiers in Uzbekistan.