PFF’s Brazilian coach Nogueira due today

Our correspondent

KARACHI: The newly-hired Brazilian football coach Jose Antonio Nogueira will arrive here on Wednesday (today) to begin his stint as Pakistan coach.

The 52-year old will stay at the port city till May 10 to witness the ongoing PFF National Challenge Cup to pick players for the camp in connection with preparations for the forthcoming events of Asian Games and SAFF Championships.

The Asian Games would be held in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2 while the SAFF Cup would be conducted by Bangladesh in September.

Jose is an experienced coach, having coached a handful of teams both at home and abroad. He has also worked with Al-Ahli, a professional club from Saudi Arabia.The PFF has hired his services for three years through the assistance of Bahrain Football Association (BFA). Jose will also work as head of the youth teams. In a video message Jose has said that he would made Pakistan a strong side of Asia.

It means that Jose will replace Mohammed Shamlan of Bahrain who had served Pakistan until April 2015, the most unfortunate time which saw a conflict between the PFF and its rival group emerged that stifled the country’s football.

It would be a tough task for Jose to raise a better side as national players have turned rusty due to inactive football during the last three years.It would be a fresh beginning and the Asian Games would be a sort of event which will see Pakistan return to the international circuit after three years.

In the Asian Games an under-23 team, with four senior players, will be fielded while in the SAFF Cup the senior side will be tested. Although there will be no more charm for Pakistan in the Asian Games which is always a tough assignment for the country. However the SAFF Cup would be most important as the country has never won the biennial event, having once gained third position.

A Technical Study Group (TSG), headed by an experienced coach Siddique Sheikh, has already starting shortlisting players for the camp. Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Essa is also part of the group.