cPakistan’s young side will be looking to spring a surprise when they face off aganinst a relatively experienced Palestine side in their first match of the four-match series at the Punjab Stadium in Lahore on Tuesday (today).
The match will start at 7:00pm PST under floodlights. On Monday both the teams held practice sessions at the Punjab Stadium. After Pakistan completed their training, there was a light drizzle and the visitors had to undergo training in the rain. But the forecast for today is encouraging as there will be sunshine and a good crowd is expected to witness the game.
“I expect around 6000 spectators in today’s match,” Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) secretary Col Ahmed Yar Lodhi told ‘The News’ on Monday. It was learnt that Pakistan will go with the same young squad which was defeated 0-2 by Malaysia in the away leg of the first round of the Olympic qualifiers on February 23.
The other day, Pakistan coach Tariq Lutfi told ‘The News’ that he would not disturb the combination of the Olympic side and will try to continue with it against Palestine in order to prepare for the second leg of the Olympic qualifiers against Malaysia on March 9 at the Punjab Stadium in Lahore.
“We will go with the same Olympic squad in Tuesday’s match,” another official of the Pakistan team told this correspondent.
“Our young Olympic team has learnt a lot and I hope the team will give a tough time to Palestine which looks to be a very good side,” the official said.
“Striker Kaleemullah is suffering from ankle injury and he is a doubt for the game,” he said.
However, PFF secretary has said that a Sydney-based player, Ahmad, could be given a chance.
On paper Palestine team looks pretty strong under the seasoned French-Morrocon Bezaz Mousa, who is UEFA Pro License-holder. Their Olympic side has recently suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Thailand in the first-leg of their Olympic qualifier and are scheduled to face their rivals in the second-leg on March 9 at their own backyard. This would be the third match between the two countries and the first on Pakistan’s soil.
In the first ever tie between the two teams held on April 2, 2000 in Doha, Palestine had overwhelmed Pakistan 2-0 in the 12th Asian Cup qualifiers. On February 18, 2006, Palestine defeated Pakistan 3-0 when the Greenshirts were on a training tour to Manama in Bahrain.
The match will be supervised by FIFA referee Khurram Shahzad while Mohammad Ali Junior and Shafaat Habib will serve as his assistants. Waheed Murad will be the fourth official. Mian Rizwan will act as match commissioner while Qazi Asif will serve as referees’ assessor.