Munir Ahmed Baloch earned Pakistan Colts place among the top three of the AFC Under-13 Festival of Football that concluded at Iranian city of Yazd. Munir with his individual brilliance not only got Pakistan’s third place in the Festival but also earned the best and top scorer award. He single-handedly produced 10 goals to get the award. Pakistan was off to an impressive start in the event as they beat Nepal 2-0 in the first game. The second game of the day saw Pakistan hold a gutsy Bangladesh U13 side 2-2 to record a share of the spoils.
After two wins against Nepal, Pakistan team lost rather peculiarly 0-3 to them in the seventh match but only to bounce back strongly winning comprehensively against Bangladesh and teaching a football lesson to South Asian minnows Bhutan. Malir native Salman Rahim from Karachi was the captain of the Pak U-13 side in the event. Nine teams including Iran, hosts Yazd, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan were featuring in the two-week annual youth extravaganza that began on May 17 and ended on May 23.
In each match, a team was required to field with 11 players of the 22-man squad in the first half and the remaining 11 players in the second half in a bid to provide opportunity to all the players representing a side.
