FIFA postpones Pak-Yemen tie after Lahore bombings

KARACHI: The suicide bombings at churches in Lahore on Sunday inflicted a serious damage on Pakistan’s sports when FIFA postponed the second leg tie of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers between Pakistan and Yemen which was scheduled at Punjab Stadium Lahore on Tuesday (today).
“Yes, FIFA has postponed the game. It’s really bad,” Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) secretary Col Ahmad Yar Lodhi told ‘The News’ late Monday night. “The future schedule and venue will be unveiled later,” Lodhi said.
The first leg between the two countries was held in Doha on March 12 in which Yemen beat Pakistan 3-1.
The postponement has disturbed Pakistan team coach Mohammed Shamlan. “Yes, it’s a big upset for us but it is not in our hands,” Shamlan told this correspondent. He said that they would make their future plan on Tuesday (today). “We will plan tomorrow what we should do now,” said Shamlan, a former Bahraini defender.
Pakistan’s team manager Asghar Khan Anjum said that it was a serious blow to their side. “The body language of our team was fairly good and we had a fair chance to beat Yemen 2-0 at home,” Asghar said.
“The coach had worked hard with the boys and they all were in their peak form but the sudden postponement of the tie has destroyed everything,” said Asghar.
He added that the in future they could face problems. “You know, we have some foreign-based players who will leave now and it will be a tough task to gather them again,” the official said.
FIFA gave its final decision after a detailed discussion. After the attacks on churches which left 15 people dead, both Pakistan and Yemen teams were forced to cancel their official training sessions.
On Monday Pakistan held their training session at the City School. Yemen conducted their training at the Punjab Stadium in the evening.
The joint news conference of both teams which was scheduled at the FIFA Football House in Lahore was cancelled due to security fears, on the instructions of FIFA match-commissioner John Windsor of Malaysia.
Yemen had also opted to host Pakistan in their home leg in Doha last week because of the political unrest in their country.
The development may also affect the 2016 AFC Under-23 championship qualifiers Group B matches which Pakistan is to host in Lahore from March 23 to 31.
“I don’t think that this event will be held in Pakistan now when a World Cup qualifiers game has been postponed at a time when Yemen had already arrived and the stage had been set for the showdown,” a Pakistan team official said.
Kuwait, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan are in Pakistan’s group.
Danish players Hassan Bashir, Mohammad Ali and Nabil Aslam are expected to leave for Denmark in a couple of days.
Kyrgyzstan-based trio Kaleemullah, Mohammad Adil and Saddam Hussain will also join their team Dordoi FC in a few days.
Mohammad Ahmed has to join Bahraini club ISA Town FC. Sadullah is expected to join his Maldives club on April 1.
Since the terrorists’ attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Lahore in March 2009, foreign teams have been refusing to come to Pakistan.
But several international events of football have been successfully conducted by PFF during the last few years.