Pakistan football team will look to win their crucial Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup match against India in Kuala Lumpur today in a bid to stay alive in the tournament.
Pakistan need to win the match to avoid crashing out following a 3-0 loss to Turkmenistan in their opening match. Meanwhile, India will be looking for a second consecutive win after they beat Chinese Taipei 3-0 and a win today will get them through to the final round.
The significance of the clash was not lost on Pakistan coach Tariq Lutfi who urged his players to improve.
“It’s a do-or-die situation,” Lutfi told The Express Tribune. “After our defeat against Turkmenistan, I had to work hard on motivating the team. I’ve been telling them that it is March 23 and our match is against India so there is a patriotic spirit. We’ll give our all to win it.”
Lutfi will be bringing in younger players in place of seniors and there will be a few changes in the formation. He said that he wanted to bring in more experienced players in the mid-field, while the younger ones will form the forward line.
The coach said that the team has learned from its mistakes and will be looking to play a more aggressive game in the first-half to avoid conceding early goals as they did against Turkmenistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2011.
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