KARACHI – Pakistan put up an excellent display to hold Palestine to a goal-less draw in the second tie of the four match friendly series at Karachi’s Peoples Sports Complex on Friday. Palestine lead the series 1-0 after the two matches. The next two matches will be played at Palestine’s Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Al-Ram near Ramallah on May 24 and 27. Palestine started the game with Sulaiman Obaid leading the side, as coach Mouza Bezaz rested their skipper and keeper Abdallah Alisidawi and asked Mohammed Shabair to take guard below the bar.
The first half remained unproductive, with Palestine dominating the possession 55-45. Palestine tried to utilise their wingers, while Pakistan relied too heavily on breakaways and long range drives.
Pakistan suffered a disaster when they lost their midfielder Muhammad Tauseef , who scored in Lahore, in the 27th minute. He was replaced by Quetta-born Arif Hussain. Palestine came close to scoring through Ashraf and Iyad in the 12th and 15th minute respectively, while skipper Suleiman missed a chance in the 39th minute. Six minutes later, Suleiman suffered severe injury from Ahsan Ullah’s foul and left the field in the injury time, with substitute Ismail Alamour replacing the captain. Pakistan forced chances through Jadeed Khan (17th min), Rizwan Asif (31st min) and Mehmood Khan (34th min) but all went in vain as Palestine keeper Shabair was up to the task.
The first real chance of the match came in the 55th minute but Pakistan keeper Omar thwarted Atef Abubelal’s attempt with a great save.
Nine minutes later, Chaman-born Mehmood Khan got a chance, but his drive sailed over the cross piece. Palestine substitute Muhammad Jabreen, within five minutes of this arrival, tested Omar with a curler but ball went wide. The 85th minute saw Arif Hussain test Shabair with a spectacular 30 meter drive, but to no avail. A minute later, Omar saw Ghazanfar’s back pass tickled through the feet, and the goalie rushed to save Pakistan from embarrassment. The third minute of injury time provided Pakistan’s Alamgir a good chance, but keeper Shabair did well to block two shots from Alamgir as the game ended in a draw.
Pakistani coach Tariq Lutfi seemed content and praised his young team after the match. “My boys were a lot better than before, despite the departure of Tauseef from the arena. “Despite having a younger squad against the professional Palestine team, we gave them a tough time. More importantly, the losing margin has been reduced, which is yet another step towards our development.” Lutfi was impressed by the way the young team stood up to the challenge: “Although we didn’t have the best of games and weren’t able to convert our opportunities, it wasn’t easy for the opponent to overwhelm us.”
Palestine, who are preparing for the 4th AFC Challenge Cup through the series against Pakistan, expressed reservations at PFF’s decision to field the U21 team. PFF Secretary Col. Ahmed, who watched the match at the stadium, extracted positives out of Pakistan’s decision. “Their objection is understandable as they were expecting a tough opposition for their training, but it’s a brave decision by PFF. The stance was taken for the development of our football. However, several seniors will join our U21 squad for the upcoming AFC Challenge Cup at KL.” The transporters strike in Karachi had severely affected the flow of fans for the game, with only 3,500 attending instead of the expected 10,000.
