Pakistan football team has on Wednesday left here for New Delhi to take part in SAFF Football Championship-2011, being held in Jawaharlal Nehru Football Stadium, New Delhi from December 2 to 11, 2011. The officials of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) gave warm send off to the members of the team amid hopes of outstanding performance in the event.
Pakistan has been placed in Group B with the Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal. All the matches of the group will be conducted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Football Stadium. Pakistan will open their mission with the match against Bangladesh on December 2, followed by their games against Maldives on November 4 and against Nepal on December 6. Defending champions and hosts India are in Group A with Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. The top two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals.
The team is comprised of Jaffar Khan (GK, captain), Adnan Farooq Ahmed (MW, vice captain), Samar Ishaq (DF, vice captain), Saquib Hanif (GK), Muzamil Hussain (GK), Kamran Khan (DF), Muhammad Rizwan Asif (DF), Muhammad Ahmed (DF), Naveed Ahmed (DF), Manzoor Ahmed (DF), Alamgir Khan (DF), Faisal Iqbal (MF), Ansar Abbas (MF), Saddam Hussain (MF), Kaleem Ullah (MF), Muhammad Adil (MF), Muhammad Ikram (MF), Atif Bashir Qureshi (MF), Jadeed Khan Pathan (FW) Shakir Lashari (FW) Husnain Abbas (FW) and Junaid Qadir (FW).
The officials of the National team are Zavisha Milosavljevich (Coach/Manager), Syed Nasir Ismail (Assistant Coach), Gohar Zaman (Assistant Coach/Assistant Manager), Muhammad Aslam Khan (Goalkeeper Coach) and Dr Kamran Mehdi (Physio/Media Manager). PFF President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has expressed good wishes for the team and hoped the boys will show their able talent in the event.