Saff Championship: Pakistan to play must-win match against Bangladesh

National team needs to triumph with a two-goal margin today.

KARACHI:

Pakistan will play their last South Asian Football Federation (Saff) Championship Group A match with Bangladesh today in Kathmandu.

The national squad will not only be looking for a win against Bangladesh with a margin of two goals, but they are also hoping for hosts Nepal to triumph in their last Group A match against defending champions India today.

Coach Shehzad Anwar believes that taking a two-goal victory against Bangladesh is an achievable task.

“We’ve seen Bangladesh play their first match, and keeping our current form in mind, we can beat them,” Shehzad told The Express Tribune.



“My players are coming together to prove themselves, so we have a lot of heart in this game. Ideally, I would want to win the match with a 2-0 score-line, but you never know. We need to score more goals in this match, because even if we win 1-0, that won’t be good enough.

“However, before going into the match, I will tell my players that they have played well and we fought hard in every match — winning and losing is just a matter of luck.”

Meanwhile, the coach added that he wants to see Nepal win their match against India.

Pakistan’s hopes for qualifying for the next round also depend on the result of the other match, as even a draw in the India and Nepal game will send Pakistan out of the running.

“Nepal should win, they drew with us and they are the hosts, so they should win for their home crowd too,” he said.

Former Pakistan striker fears India, Nepal draw

Pakistan and Bangladesh have played seven matches with each other since 2005, out of which they drew four and Pakistan lost three.

Pakistan are ranked 167th, while Bangladesh is at 158th in the Fifa rankings.

Former Pakistan striker Arif Mehmood, who was a part of the last Saff championship squad, believed that India and Nepal would possibly draw their match on purpose.

“Indians and Nepalese are closer to each other, and I fear that they may just draw the match to put Pakistan down,” said Arif. “They won’t be playing to defeat each other because they will get through to the next round regardless of the result.”

In Group A India and Nepal lead with four points each while Pakistan and Bangladesh each have a solitary point from two matches.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2013.

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