Football: PFF allows late inclusions in training camp

Two UK-based players join team ahead of SAFF Championship.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has seemed to relax its policy of last-minute inclusions in the training camp as two UK-based players joined the team yesterday.

Atif Bashir and Adnan Ahmed attended their first day of the camp underway ahead of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship 2011 that starts on December 2 in New Delhi, in what will be Serbian coach Zavisa Milosavljevic’s first assignment with the team.

Earlier, former coach Tariq Lutfi had ruled out the possibility of last-minute inclusion of players and his stance was backed by the PFF. Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, the PFF secretary, stated that foreign players fail to mingle with locals and this worked against the Pakistan side in international games.

However, an official said that Milosavljevic was still trying to find the ‘perfect combination’ and that was the reason why the two players were allowed to join as late as they did. “The camp has been underway since October 29,” an official told The Express Tribune. “But Milosavljevic is still trying different combinations and he did not want to leave those two out.

“It’s understandable since we have a tough group in the championship. We will face Bangladesh in our first match and they won the tournament in 2003, so I think we should select the best team.”

Pakistan, who play their first match on December 2, are placed in Group B along with Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal, while defending champions India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Afghanistan form Group A.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2011.