Football: Lutfi simplifies team’s goals in President’s Cup

KRL coach eyeing just a win over Mongolia for qualification.

KARACHI: KRL coach Tariq Lutfi has made qualification into the next round of the President’s Cup sound simple.

Pakistan will host the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President’s Cup next month in Lahore in which the top club from Mongolia, Erchim FC, and Chinese Taipei’s Taiwan Power Company will take part. The top two of these three teams, placed in Group A, will qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament that take place in September.

Following the withdrawal of Bangladesh, who were supposed to be the fourth team in the group, Lutfi said that his club needs just a single win to qualify and has targeted Mongolia’s team for the purpose.

The coach, who guided his team to victory in the Pakistan Premier Football League, said the refusal of Bangladesh to tour the country, due to security concerns, has increased KRL’s chances in the President’s Cup campaign.

“We want to gain the precious three points by beating the Mongolian club on May 8,” Lutfi told The Express Tribune. “Taiwan is a good team and it’s unlikely that Mongolia will get past them. So we just need to get the better of Mongolia.”

Lutfi added that the return of six KRL players, who were part of the under-22 team’s tour to Thailand, will bolster the team’s chances. “They’ll make a huge difference to the squad now. They’re coming back with international exposure and I’m glad that my players got training from Serbian coach Zavisa Milosavljevic.”

Last year, Wapda participated in the President’s Cup in Nepal but crashed out in the group stages.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2012.