Fifa World Cup 2018: Pakistan crash out on first hurdle

Return leg of qualifier against Yemen ends in goal-less draw

KARACHI: Pakistan crashed out of the qualifiers for football world cup 2018 in the first round despite playing a goalless draw with Yemen in Manama, Bahrain on Monday.

The Green shirts had lost to Yemen 3-1 in Doha on March 12 in the first leg of the tie and needed to win the return leg with a margin of two goals to progress into the second round of the preliminary qualifying round.

Pakistan, ranked 170 compared to Yemen who are 175th, were scheduled to play the home leg in Lahore on March 17, but the Lahore church bombings forced Fifa to postpone the fixture.

The match was later shifted to a neutral venue over security concerns. The first leg was also played on a neutral venue because of civil unrest in Yemen.

“If we were playing in Lahore, the result might have been different,” Pakistan goalkeeper Muzammil Hussain told The Express Tribune. “We tried to score but it was not our day.”

Despite improving on their game considerably in a matter of 10 days, the team failed to utilise any opportunity to score.

Team manager Asghar Anjum believed the team played well but paid the price for losing the first leg. “It’s the cost of losing the opening match in the tournament,” he said. “The players performed well today. They dominated Yemen but it was not enough. We certainly missed the home advantage. I do believe that playing this match in Lahore would have been different.”


Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2015.