Poor goalkeeping a big worry

KARACHI: Conceding four goals in 15 minutes — three of them in just five minutes — against Oman once again showed how poor Pakistan’s goalkeeping and defence is.

Pakistan were up 3-0 but what happened afterwards was shocking, to say the least. Pakistan had decided to test goalkeeper Amjad Ali who had not played in the previous two matches. In the previous two matches, Imran Butt served as the goalkeeper and the results were a 3-0 win against Oman and a 2-2 draw against Japan.

Sources from Oman told ‘The News’ that after conceding four goals in 15 minutes, Amjad was replaced and Imran Butt was sent for the last two quarters to save the match. The strategy clicked and Pakistan were successful in drawing the match.

Shafqat Rasool justified his selection once again by scoring an equaliser. He had scored against Japan when only two minutes were left and the match ended 2-2. In this match, when Oman were leading by 4-3, his strike ensured that Pakistan at least did not lose the match.

It showed that if Imran gets injured or something else happens, Pakistan has no competent one to replace him. Amjad’s bad performance in Asia Cup and the four-nation tournament in Australia was the reason why Imran came back.

Amjad conceded nine goals against Australia in a match in the four-nation tournament, which was the biggest defeat of Pakistan in history. Pakistan are to play Commonwealth Games in June, Champions Trophy in Holland in June, Asian Games, and then World Cup this year. Thus, PHF will have to do something special to strengthen its goalkeeping department.