2018 FIFA qualifiers: Pakistan, Yemen begin fight for World Cup berths

The two Asian sides will play the first leg of the preliminary round in Doha

KARACHI: Pakistan will kick off their 2018 World Cup campaign against Yemen in the first leg of the preliminary qualifiers in Doha on Thursday.

Yemen are coming back after their worst ever performance at the 2014 World Cup, having failed to progress to the group stages of the qualifiers since their first appearance in the contest as North Yemen in 1986.

On the other hand, this will be Pakistan’s chance to register their first win in the qualifiers since 1989 and the team management believes the men in green, under coach Mohamed Shamlan, can surprise their opponents.

“We’ve had training sessions in the last two days in Doha,” team manager Asghar Anjum told The Express Tribune. “We have the best local and foreign-based talent here and the players are clicking together.”

The manager confirmed that the team will play without their leading defender and senior-most player, Zesh Rehman, in the first leg.

“Zesh will be unable to join us but he can come for the second leg on March 17 in Lahore. We have all the other players though and we’ll be trying to get the best out of them. Kaleemullah, Hassan Bashir and Nabil Aslam are our best hopes among others. We’re improving with each training session.”

Asghar added that the weather and pitch conditions are suitable for Pakistan to perform, while it was yet to be decided who would be wearing the captain’s armband.

Pakistan are ranked on 171 in the FIFA rankings while Yemen slumped to 179 last month, their worst standing in the last two years.

Gypsies meet the Greenshirts

While Asghar said that the Pakistan camp is aware of Yemen’s strengths, the gulf team is looking forward to meeting its competition on the field.

Mohammed alKhamisi, the media spokesperson for the Yemen Football Association (YFA), admitted that Pakistan is an obscure side for them.

“We had defeated them back in 1993,” said alKhamsi. “We don’t have much information on Pakistan yet. However, we’ve been preparing for this qualifier for the past two months, having trained in Dubai and Turkey before arriving in Doha, where we’ve got some good practice in the last week.”

According to Khamisi, Yemen has been facing the drawback of not being able to hold any international matches at their home ground due to civil unrest in the country.

The official further stated that the team played at the 2014 Gulf Cup in December where they drew two matches and lost one, finishing ahead of Bahrain in the eight-national tournament.

“Football is a very popular sport in Yemen,” said Khamisi. “We have everything there, including at least three big stadiums and a good league in place, but we haven’t played any FIFA matches at home for more than a year-and-a-half.”

He added that they had the likes of professional players such as Ala alSasi on their side.

Khamisi said that the YFA also hired Czech coach Miroslav Soukup in 2014 while assistant coach is Amine alSunaini has been with them since 2003.

Yemen’s best performance came in the 2002 qualifiers, where they missed out on the opportunity to progress to the next round, finishing second to Egypt in the group stages.

On the road to Russia

Besides Pakistan and Yemen, India will also begin their preliminary round against Nepal in Guwahati on Monday, while East Timor will play Mongolia, Cambodia will take on Macau, Chinese Taipei will play Brunei and Sri Lana will face Bhutan.

Six winners from the fixture will progress to the second round — last 34 in the continent — of the qualifiers.

 

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