Karachi gives poor response to football greats

An event which should’ve been a spectacular masterpiece, ended up as huge disappointment — more in fact embarrassment.

World renowned Soccer Stars team featuring greats like Brazil’s Kaka, Portugal’s Luis Figo, Spain’s Carles Puyol and France’s Nicolas Anelka were facing Karachi’s local football club, FC Karachi on Saturday.

Anyone would have expected these top football stars to play an exhibition match under top-class facilities, but the treatment they got was far from even being acceptable.

Even the tour organisers were left shocked to see inadequate arrangements, as players were seen playing on an uneven surface at Rahat Football Ground.

Read more: More academies will sustain football culture, not one-off star tours: Kaka

The poor lighting, installed at a lower height, at the venue kept fans irritated, who were already low in numbers. One reason for drawing such little crowd could have been the extremely high ticket prices, which only had 1 category.

Despite all the issues however, the game went on and both teams had a good competition.

Legends of World Soccer Stars defeated the FC Karachi, with a margin of 9-5 as Nicolas Anelka and Luis Figo scored two goals apiece, Pakistan Football team captain Saddam Hussain also netted the ball twice.

For FC Karachi, Daniyal was the pick of the day with three goals to his credit.

The World Soccer Stars will now move to Lahore for team Figo vs team Kaka clash on Sunday. The organizers have also announced free-tickets for the fans in Lahore, after an underwhelming turnout in Karachi.