Pak football team conducts training session in Male

KARACHI: Pakistan's senior men's football team on Sunday conducted its first training session in Male, Maldives, in order to adjust to the local conditions before its international friendly against the hosts on Tuesday (tomorrow) at Gan.

The team reached Male on Saturday.

“We conducted a 45-minute training session here in Male today on artificial turf. The temperature here is 30 degree Celsius and quite humid,” Pakistan head coach Shehzad Anwar told ‘The News’ from Male.

“Tomorrow we will go to Gan and will conduct a training session there,” Shehzad said.

London-based defender Harun Hamid has also joined the squad and attended the training session on Sunday.

Denmark-based striker Abdul Samad Shehzad and Denmark-based defender Abdullah Iqbal were also scheduled to join the squad on Sunday. “Yes, they will join us tonight and will be part of the training session tomorrow,” Shehzad said.

“They were playing a game there back home on March 18,” the head coach said. Harun has impressed Shehzad with his ability as a player. “Yes he is a good player,” Shehzad said.

Both Harun and Abdul Samad Shehzad will make their debuts for Pakistan in the one-off game against Maldives.

Following years of inactivity Pakistan team is being rebuilt. Pakistan are scheduled to feature in the SAFF Cup and World Cup Qualifiers this year.

India will host the SAFF Cup in July while the World Cup Qualifiers will be held at the end of this year.

The Green-shirts last year played an international friendly against Nepal in Nepal and this also heralded Pakistan’s return to international circuit after a long gap of three years.