WAPDA, SSGC storm into semis

KARACHI: Pakistan’s strong team WAPDA and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) breezed past their rivals Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) respectively to qualify for the semi-finals of the NBP President’s Cup Football tournament here at KPT Sports Complex on Wednesday.

WAPDA edged past SNGPL 11-10 in penalty shootout while SSGC overpowered NBP 1-0 in their quarter-finals in which the refereeing standard came under fire from the teams’ officials.

WAPDA and SSGC will now face each other in the semi-final to be held at the same venue on Friday (tomorrow). On Thursday (today), the first semi-final will be played between the country’s two giants — last Premier League champions K-Electric and four-time Premier League winners Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).

WAPDA-SNGPL showdown turned out to be captivating till the last moment. In the scheduled 90 minutes, the game was a goalless draw. Twenty minutes — ten minutes a half — extra time was given that was also not enough for both sides to break the deadlock.

This stretched the game into a penalty shootout. And both sides converted their first five penalties that further stretched the show to be decided on running penalties. When WAPDA were leading 11-10, Mohammad Raheel missed the penalty that deprived SNGPL of progressing into the semi-finals.

WAPDA’s coach Tanvir Ahmed was not satisfied with the refereeing standard. “I think the game was not in control of the referee,” Tanvir told ‘The News’ after a hard-earned win by his side.

“We were not awarded two clear-cut penalties. The referee still advises us not to shout. Why would we not shout when our team is not extended fair treatment?” said Tanvir, also a former international defender.

Tanvir said that the playing style of both WAPDA and SNGPL was the same, which was the reason behind the trouble faced by his team.

However he was confident that his team would live up to expectations against SSGC in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile in the other quarter-final, Mohammad Ali’s strike in the 46th minute enabled SSGC defeat spirited NBP 1-0 to make it into the last four.

NBP coach Nasir Ismail also blasted the refereeing standard. “You know, it was a good initiative by the NBP to organise such an event. And it could have turned out to be a much healthier event had some FIFA referees been deputed for supervising the matches,” Nasir told this correspondent.

‘The poor refereeing standard has destroyed the taste of the whole event. Every team official is crying and protesting against the standard of refereeing,” he said.

“In our game, a referee signalled for off-side on corner which normally does not happen and disallowed Farooq Shah’s goal. The assistant referees were mostly seen making mistakes and this is not good. If you have FIFA referees then why their services are not being utilised?” said Nasir, also a former Pakistan assistant coach.

Meanwhile this correspondent learnt that the organisers had relieved NBP’s manager Qamar Ali of his services for the remaining of the tournament and he has been asked to serve as tournament coordinator.