Army hold WAPDA in thrilling 1-1 draw
Coach Mehmood displeased with standard of refereeing in PPFL.
Coach Mehmood displeased with standard of refereeing in PPFL.PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Two-time champions Army held Wapda in a 1-1 draw in their Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) match in Lahore yesterday.
Four-time champions Wapda took the lead in the 32nd minute, thanks to seasoned striker Arif Mehmood’s goal.
While both the teams played aggressively, Army’s efforts bore fruit in the 74th minute when Zafarullah Jawad netted the equaliser.
“It was an exciting match and a true crowd pleaser,” Army coach Shafqat Mehmood told The Express Tribune. “We missed quite a few opportunities in the first half but played well overall. In fact both the teams played tremendously.
“Wapda did seem a little exhausted in the second half when we equalised, but overall it was a thrilling match.”
Although Mehmood praised the quality of football and the turn-out of more than 1000 spectators yesterday, he said that the refereeing needs to be improved in order to improve the standard of the PPFL.
“The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) should hire referees from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka to improve the standard. They will be available on cheaper wages and will also be impartial. Even in our match against Wapda, the referee misjudged a call in the first half and didn’t give us a deserving penalty. Generally the quality of referees isn’t too good in Pakistan.”
However, PFF referee officer in Karachi, Shakoor Baloch, disagreed with Shafqat, saying that the officials do a fair job.
In the other match of the day, PIA thrashed HBL 3-0 at the KPT Stadium.
Nasurallah Khan, Riaz Ahmed and Muhammad Ishtiaq were the goalscorers in what was PIA’s first win in three league matches.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2013.
Two-time champions Army held Wapda in a 1-1 draw in their Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) match in Lahore yesterday.
Four-time champions Wapda took the lead in the 32nd minute, thanks to seasoned striker Arif Mehmood’s goal.
While both the teams played aggressively, Army’s efforts bore fruit in the 74th minute when Zafarullah Jawad netted the equaliser.
“It was an exciting match and a true crowd pleaser,” Army coach Shafqat Mehmood told The Express Tribune. “We missed quite a few opportunities in the first half but played well overall. In fact both the teams played tremendously.
“Wapda did seem a little exhausted in the second half when we equalised, but overall it was a thrilling match.”
Although Mehmood praised the quality of football and the turn-out of more than 1000 spectators yesterday, he said that the refereeing needs to be improved in order to improve the standard of the PPFL.
“The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) should hire referees from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka to improve the standard. They will be available on cheaper wages and will also be impartial. Even in our match against Wapda, the referee misjudged a call in the first half and didn’t give us a deserving penalty. Generally the quality of referees isn’t too good in Pakistan.”
However, PFF referee officer in Karachi, Shakoor Baloch, disagreed with Shafqat, saying that the officials do a fair job.
In the other match of the day, PIA thrashed HBL 3-0 at the KPT Stadium.
Nasurallah Khan, Riaz Ahmed and Muhammad Ishtiaq were the goalscorers in what was PIA’s first win in three league matches.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2013.