SAFF Championship: Unbeaten Pakistan crash out

Officials unhappy but place confidence in new coach’s abilities.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) expressed its disappointment after the team played out a 1-1 draw against Nepal to crash out of the eight-nation Saff Championship underway in New Delhi.

Pakistan drew all three matches in the tournament – Serbian coach Zavisa Milosavljevic’s first assignment with the team – and scored a solitary goal in their campaign. PFF Secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi said the team should have qualified for the semi-finals.

“I’m unhappy with the team’s performance,” Lodhi told The Express Tribune. “Now they will be competing for fifth place and I hope they win that match. However, at this stage I really can’t blame Milosavljevic for not doing enough. He joined the team just 20 days before the tournament.”

Meanwhile, Lodhi added that Pakistan should take their unbeaten run in the event as consolation and work towards improvement, placing his confidence in the new coach’s abilities.

“The new coach has definitely made a difference in this line-up and I have more confidence in Milosavljevic’s ability than our last coach’s. The Serb gave the team a good strategy to work on and certainly brought enthusiasm in the team, which was lacking. I’m expecting more from him now.”

Coach focusing on building team

Meanwhile, Milosavljevvic said that the Saff Championship was an opportunity for him to look at the talent in the side and will now focus on building the team.

“There’s a lot of potential in the team but we need to start from scratch and build the side, which needs a lot of international exposure,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2011.