Saff Championship: Hard work should pay off says football coach

Pakistan arrive in Delhi for SAFF Championship.

LAHORE: Pakistan’s football coach Zavisa Milosavljevich was hopeful of a good show as the team arrived in New Delhi yesterday ahead of their first match of the South Asian Football Federation (Saff) Championship.

Pakistan, placed in Group B, will face Bangladesh tomorrow before taking on Maldives and Nepal in what will be the Serb’s first assignment since taking over as coach.

“We’ve worked hard for this tournament,” Milosavljevich told reporters before leaving. “The preparations have been good and I’m hoping for a good show by the boys. We want to play good football in this event and be crowned champions.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Jaffar Khan said his team aims to win matches on the field and hearts off it during the tour.

“We’re going to try to win the championship no matter how tough our matches are,” Khan told AFP. “We are the first team to visit India for a long time and I hope that with our good conduct and play we leave a good impression of Pakistan in India.” India won the last edition of the tournament that was held in Bangladesh. Pakistan, however, have yet to win the event and their best finish came in the 1997 Saff Championship where they finished third.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2011.