Football: Greenshirts draw blank against Bangladesh
Coach admits pressure after Pakistan held in SAFF Cup opener.
KARACHI:
Pakistan launched its South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup 2011 campaign in New Delhi with a goal-less draw against Bangladesh at the Jawaharlal Nehru Football Stadium yesterday.
Placed in group B along with Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal, the match was an opportunity for Pakistan to avenge its 3-0 defeat by the same opponents in the World Cup Asian qualifiers that took place in July.
This is Pakistan’s first assignment under new coach Zavisa Milosavljevic who admitted to feeling a lot of pressure.
“To be honest, there’s a lot of pressure on me and I am feeling it as it’s my first assignment,” the Yugoslavian Milosavljevic told The Express Tribune. “There’s a lot of potential here but I cannot expect too much from this team since it has had just 20 days of training.
“Right now, I can only help with strategies and see how they execute them. I’m here to assess their show in this tournament as well and they need the exposure to test their skills.”
According to Milosavljevic, a long-term plan will be implemented after the completion of the SAFF Cup and hoped that the team will gather points from drawing matches instead of losing.
Pakistan now face Maldives tomorrow in their second match while the action in group A, comprising defending champions India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Afghanistan, starts today.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2011.
Pakistan launched its South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup 2011 campaign in New Delhi with a goal-less draw against Bangladesh at the Jawaharlal Nehru Football Stadium yesterday.
Placed in group B along with Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal, the match was an opportunity for Pakistan to avenge its 3-0 defeat by the same opponents in the World Cup Asian qualifiers that took place in July.
This is Pakistan’s first assignment under new coach Zavisa Milosavljevic who admitted to feeling a lot of pressure.
“To be honest, there’s a lot of pressure on me and I am feeling it as it’s my first assignment,” the Yugoslavian Milosavljevic told The Express Tribune. “There’s a lot of potential here but I cannot expect too much from this team since it has had just 20 days of training.
“Right now, I can only help with strategies and see how they execute them. I’m here to assess their show in this tournament as well and they need the exposure to test their skills.”
According to Milosavljevic, a long-term plan will be implemented after the completion of the SAFF Cup and hoped that the team will gather points from drawing matches instead of losing.
Pakistan now face Maldives tomorrow in their second match while the action in group A, comprising defending champions India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Afghanistan, starts today.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2011.