Pakistan face Palestine in FIFA friendly today

KARACHI: Pakistan football team will be desperately looking to pull off a win when it faces Palestine in a friendly at the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in Al-Ram, Palestine, on Friday (today).

The match starts at 6pm PST.

A senior official of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) told ‘The News’ on Thursday that coach Jose Antonio Nogueira was confident. “I had a chat with the coach and he was confident. He said that the players’ morale was high and that they would give tough time to Palestine,” the official said.

“We have sent our team for exposure which is direly needed at this stage. It’s a blend of youth and experience and hopefully will put in their best,” the official said.

Pakistan have the services of seven foreign-based players for the clash.

The match is part of PFF’s efforts to prepare a strong team for next year’s international assignments. Next year, Pakistan will feature in the South Asian Games, Olympic and World Cup qualifiers, which will need players of different age-groups (under-23 and seniors).

Danish Superliga winger Adnan Mohammad is expected to make his international debut.Palestine have played several matches this year. They are also scheduled to face China on November 20.

The PFF official said that Pakistan team did good practice on Thursday. He added that the team also visited Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday for prayer.On Wednesday Pakistan team was received by the Executive Director of the Palestine Football Association (PFA) Firas Abu Hilal.

Squad: Yousaf Ijaz Butt (goalkeeper), Ahsanullah (goalkeeper), Umer Hayat, Arslan Ali, Naveed Ahmad, Zeeshan Rehman, Mehdi Hassan, Yaqoob Ijaz Butt, Adnan Yaqoob, Saddam Hussain, Umair Ali, Hassan Bashir, Muhammad Ali, Zain-ul-Abideen, Mahmood Khan, Naveed Rehman, Mansoor Khan Officials: Jose Antonio Nogueira (head coach), Mohammad Habib (assistant coach), Jose Roberto Portella Carneiro Filho (trainer), Mohammad Adnan (physio).