Pakistan-Palestine friendly: Adnan likely to make international debut

KARACHI: After being denied Bangladesh visa for SAFF Cup last summer, Danish Superliga winger Adnan Mohammad is expected to make his international debut during the friendly between Pakistan and Palestine to be held in Al-Ram, Palestine, on November 15.

The 22-year-old, who plays for Denmark’s Superliga Club Lyngby Boldklub, was transferred from Superliga club Helsingor FC to Lyngby Boldklub on August 31. Adnan is among the 30 probable players called to the camp. Sources said it was expected that the player would go to Palestine directly from Denmark.

The friendly, which will be held at the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in Al-Ram, falls on FIFA day.Canada-based brothers Adel Rehman and Navid Rehman are the other fresh foreign-based players of Pakistan origin who will be tested during the camp which will begin at the City School Lahore on Wednesday (today).

The brothers, who also played in low division leagues in Slovakia, were scouted by Pakistan’s Brazilian coach Jose Antonio Nogueira and Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Director Technical Shehzad Anwar in England recently, the sources said.

The Rehman brothers were scheduled to land in Lahore in the wee hours of Wednesday (today).Both play at the midfield position. It will be interesting to see how Nogueira forms a team from the highly competitive pool for the friendly against Palestine as there are eight foreign-based players in the list.

The other five are Denmark-based glove-man Yousuf Butt, defender Yaqoob Butt, former Pakistan captain and professional defender Zesh Rehman, and Denmark-based strikers Hassan Bashir and Mohammad Ali.

All the five players have been playing for Pakistan for the last few years. It was also learnt that National Bank’s defender Amir Siddiq is not likely to be part of the training camp due to illness of his mother.

“I don’t think Amir will attend the camp as he has gone home to look after his ailing mother,” his team source told this correspondent.NBP’s defender Adil Ahmed, who is also in the list, has also been ruled out of the camp due to injury. “Yes, Adil has injured himself,” an NBP team source said.

The list includes 21-year-old glove-man Mohammad Faheem of Muslim FC. A source in the team management said that he is a good keeper and will be groomed.Pakistan are preparing for next year’s Olympic qualifiers, World Cup qualifiers and South Asian Games.

Goalkeepers: Yousuf Ijaz Butt (AB Taarnby, Denmark), Saqib Hanif and Ahsanullah (SSGC), Abdul Basit (WAPDA), Tanvir Mumtaz (KRL), Mohammad Faheem (Muslim FC), Ghazanfar Yasin (PAF).

Defenders: Umar Hayat (WAPDA), Arslan Ali (KRL), Naveed Ahmed (Navy), Zeeshan Rehman (Southern, Hong Kong), Adil Ahmed (NBP), Amir Siddiq (NBP), Shehbaz Younis (Army), Mehdi Hassan (PAF), Yaqoob Ejaz Butt (Greve Fodbold, Denmark).

Midfielders: Mehmood Khan, Saddam Hussain and Saadullah (SSGC), Navid Rehman and Adel Rehman (Achilles 29, last club Holland), Adnan Mohammad Yaqoob (Lyngby Boldklub, Denmark), Umair Ali (KRL), Zain-ul-Aabdeen (PCCA), Mohammad Adil (KRL), Ahmed Faheem (WAPDA), Mohammad Riaz (K-Electric).

Forwards: Hassan Bashir (AB Taarnby, Denmark), Mohammad Ali (FK Odsherred, Denmark), Mansoor Khan (PAF).