AFC Cup qualifiers: K-Electric announce 17-member squad
Essa Khan to lead the side featuring two UK-based players.
PHOTO: FILE EXPRESS
KARACHI:
K-Electric captain Essa Khan will lead the Pakistan Premier Football League (PFFL) champions in the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup qualifiers as the club announced its 18-member squad on Wednesday.
The country’s top-ranked club will leave for Bhutan on Sunday, where they will play their first match against Bhutan’s Druk United on August 11 and will then face Mongolia’s Khoromkhon FC on August 13.
According to K-Electric’s Head of Sports Marketing and Brand Activation Zabe Khan, the training camp at the Pakistan Steel Mills is in full swing with UK-based coach Majid Shafiq introducing strategic exercises and techniques.
“Shafiq is very specific at the training,” said Zabe. “He’s taking strikers, defenders, midfielders, goal-keepers, basically all the players in a position-based exercise. This is the first time our players are training this way.”
The original strength of the camp was 21, but four of the players had to be sent back when the final squad was announced. “It was tough but we didn’t have space, so we had to choose only the best 17,” said coach Shafiq.
Shafiq, whose strategy includes working on the players separately and then making them play together, revealed one of his tactics about possession. “Every player should have the ball with them for eight seconds only when they are attacking in the field,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nigerain players Sunday Oludey and Wilsom Obayuni have so far been unable to join the camp due to visa issues. The strikers were expected to arrive in Pakistan last week; however, a single-entry visa would make it impossible for them to return to Pakistan for the PPFL. “They will join us directly in Bhutan as we don’t have time to go through the visa process again,” said Zabe.
The official played down the impact of the Nigerian players’ absence in the camp, saying that the foreigners have more than enough experience of playing with the current lot. “It won’t be a problem, they have been playing with K-Electric for the past two seasons and Shafiq has an idea of how to use them in the squad,” he said.
The squad also includes two UK-based Pakistani players Shani Qayyum Abbasi and Irfan Khan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2015.
K-Electric captain Essa Khan will lead the Pakistan Premier Football League (PFFL) champions in the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup qualifiers as the club announced its 18-member squad on Wednesday.
The country’s top-ranked club will leave for Bhutan on Sunday, where they will play their first match against Bhutan’s Druk United on August 11 and will then face Mongolia’s Khoromkhon FC on August 13.
According to K-Electric’s Head of Sports Marketing and Brand Activation Zabe Khan, the training camp at the Pakistan Steel Mills is in full swing with UK-based coach Majid Shafiq introducing strategic exercises and techniques.
“Shafiq is very specific at the training,” said Zabe. “He’s taking strikers, defenders, midfielders, goal-keepers, basically all the players in a position-based exercise. This is the first time our players are training this way.”
The original strength of the camp was 21, but four of the players had to be sent back when the final squad was announced. “It was tough but we didn’t have space, so we had to choose only the best 17,” said coach Shafiq.
Shafiq, whose strategy includes working on the players separately and then making them play together, revealed one of his tactics about possession. “Every player should have the ball with them for eight seconds only when they are attacking in the field,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nigerain players Sunday Oludey and Wilsom Obayuni have so far been unable to join the camp due to visa issues. The strikers were expected to arrive in Pakistan last week; however, a single-entry visa would make it impossible for them to return to Pakistan for the PPFL. “They will join us directly in Bhutan as we don’t have time to go through the visa process again,” said Zabe.
The official played down the impact of the Nigerian players’ absence in the camp, saying that the foreigners have more than enough experience of playing with the current lot. “It won’t be a problem, they have been playing with K-Electric for the past two seasons and Shafiq has an idea of how to use them in the squad,” he said.
The squad also includes two UK-based Pakistani players Shani Qayyum Abbasi and Irfan Khan.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2015.