Pakistan squad for Asian Cup Qualifiers named

LAHORE: Pakistan on Sunday unveiled its 23-member under-23 football team for featuring in the 2024 Asian Cup Qualifiers Group D which will be held in Bahrain from September 6.

Pakistan team is scheduled to leave for Bahrain on Monday (today) to feature in the most vital event which will be held at the Arad town’s Al Muharraq Stadium.

The team also carries two foreign-based players including former Queens Park Rangers (QPR) midfielder Harun Hamid and Denmark-based defender Abdullah Iqbal. Highly talented defender Sardar Wali failed to find a place in the team due to knee injury. According to sources close to Sardar, a former PACA player, he did not attend practice sessions during the last one week due to knee injury. Sardar was groomed with the Pakistan’s senior team during the last few months. It was a great chance for him to leave an impression at the right stage but injury forced him to stay away of the event.

Pakistan have been clubbed with strong Japan, Bahrain and Palestine in Group D. The Green-shirts will play their opener against Japan on September 6, followed by their matches against Bahrain on September 9 and Palestine on September 12.

The 43 nations have been clubbed in 11 groups. The top team from each group and four best runners-up will join hosts Qatar in the Asian Cup in Qatar next year.

In the 23-man squad nine players were part of the Pakistan’s senior team which featured recently in a four-nation event in Mauritius and the subsequent SAFF Championship in India.

Pakistan have not prepared well for the Bahrain qualifiers as the brigade hardly got a couple of weeks to train. Initially football governing body (PFF) held a camp at the Kunj Ground in Abbottabad where not only the pitch was hard to train on but the boarding facilities were also not good enough for a national under-23 team which also contained players of the senior side as well.

Head coach Shehzad Anwar was handling the side all alone. It was quite late that goalkeeping coach Nouman Ibrahim was sent to assist Shehzad.