K-Electric to face WAPDA in quarters

NBP, KPT also advance past Challenge Cup group stage.

KARACHI:

K-Electric and defending champions NBP finished as the top teams in their groups in the National Football Challenge Cup despite draws against KPT and Wapda on Saturday.

K-Electric drew 1-1 against KPT in Group B, while NBP held Wapda 1-1 in their Group C match.

With the result, K-Electric, who won 5-2 against Pak-Afghan Clearing Agency (Paca) earlier in the tournament, took the top spot in the pool, while KPT also reached the last-eight after ending up in second place in Group B.

K-Electric will face Group C runners-up Wapda in the next match.

Wapda faced resistance in their last pool match against NBP. They took the lead in the 49th minute with Naveed Mumtaz’s goal, but NBP’s Muhammad Asif equalised in the 84th minute.

“It was a good show by both teams,” match commissioner Ali Nawaz Baloch told The Express Tribune.

“Both sides wanted to finish at the top so they wouldn’t have to face K-Electric, who are the winners from Group B. NBP also bounced back brilliantly with a late goal, and concluded the group stage as the winners.”

According to Wapda’s striker Mehmood Khan, his team missed too many opportunities against NBP.

“We could’ve scored more, but now we are looking ahead,” he said. “We want to perform well against K-Electric. They are the Pakistan Premier Football League runners-up. It will be an interesting match for the viewers and hopefully we’ll come out as victors.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2014.

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