Army dethrone PAF to reach semis

KARACHI: Army dethroned Pakistan Air Force (PAF) with a 2-0 win in their quarter-final of the NBP Football Challenge Cup at Model Town Football Academy Ground in Lahore on Friday.
In the other quarter-final, former four-time Premier League champions WAPDA overwhelmed Navy 2-1 to move into the last-four stage.
In the semi-finals, which will be held on Sunday (tomorrow), Army will be pitted against former champions Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at Faisal Town Ground Lahore and WAPDA will lock horns with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) at Railways Stadium.
The Army-PAF clash was a tough contest. However, Army showed a lot of resolve to show exit doors to PAF who had beaten K-Electric in the final of the last edition in Karachi to win their maiden Challenge Cup title.
Zahid turned out to be the hero for Army as he scored in the 20th and the 86th minute.
The loss left PAF coach Aslam Khan extremely disappointed. “Army played a tough game. We also gave them some tough time but they looked superior. Near the end we got an open net chance but failed to convert it,” Aslam said.
He was quick to add that they would now shift their focus to prepare for the Premier League.
In the other last-eight game, at Railways Stadium, a young WAPDA team fought back strongly to oust Navy who recently reclaimed their top league seat by winning the second-tier competitions.
Hasan Faiz put Navy ahead in the third minute. However, WAPDA levelled it through Ahsan Ali in the 31st minute.
At half time, the score was 1-1.
In the second half, WAPDA played with more maturity and scored their winner through Hasnain Shah in the 70th minute to seal a comfortable victory in the end.
WAPDA’s coach Tanvir Ahmed said it was a welcome win for them. “I am happy with the way the team bounced back. The weather is too hot here, which created problems for the teams. There should have been at least three days gap for every match to give enough time to players to recover,” said Tanvir, also Pakistan’s current assistant coach.
WAPDA had luckily reached quarter-finals when controversial rules pushed them above Habib Bank Limited (HBL).