Visa delays force PFF NC to shuffle plans

ISLAMABAD: As the Pakistan soccer team heads for Saudi Arabia on Thursday (tomorrow) to figure in the Asia Cup Qualifying round match against Syria, a delay in the completion of visa formalities forced the PFF Normalization Committee (NC) to make adjustments which included coach Stephen Constantine joining the team in Saudi Arabia only five days ahead of the outing.

Visas are still pending with the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad with Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) NC making all efforts to receive these by Wednesday. The head coach and some of the diaspora players will join the team in Saudi Arabia just days ahead of the March 25 match.

“Stephen was supposed to join the team in Saudi Arabia where initially we planned a 12-day camp ahead of the Asian Cup qualifying round match. However, due to the extraordinary Umrah visa rush, we faced unprecedented delays in acquiring Saudi Arabia’s visas, ultimately resulting in plan changes. Had we succeeded in getting early visas, Stephen would have joined the camp in Saudi Arabia as early as March 13,” said a source.

Visas are still pending with the Embassy with NC members confident of getting these in time for the team’s departure to Saudi Arabia on Thursday. “We kept on pursuing visas which face unnecessary delay,” one of the NC members when contacted said.

The NC member said there was no use of having Stephen here for a couple of days. “We expected to get visas much earlier which did not turn out to be the case. Now Stephen along with some diaspora players will join the camp in Saudi Arabia.”

Besides Stephen, Trishan Patel and a few other officials will also join the camp in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s government has also made special arrangements for both Syria and Pakistan team members to perform umrah after the qualifier on March 25. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has already issued NOC to eight officials and 35 players for the Saudi Arabia tour.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Abdul Basit, Adam Najeeb, Yousuf Ijaz Butt, Saqib Hanif

Midfielders: Alamgir Ali Khan Ghazi, Ali Uzair Mahmood, Ali Zafar, Muhammad Umar Hayat, Rahis Nabi, Toqeer Ul Hassan, Umair Ali, Moin Ahmed

Attackers: Fareedullah, Harun hamid, Imran Shahid Kayani, Mckeal Aroon Abdullah, Abdul Samad Shahzad, Shayak Dost, M. Adeel Younas

Defenders: Abdul Rehman, Abdullah Iqbal, Easah Suliman, Haseeb Ahmed Khan, Junaid Ahmed Shah, Mamoon Moosa Khan, Mohammad Fazal, Waqar Ihtisam