The coach of Pakistan football team Akhtar Mohiuddin believes that his players will not feel much pressure as they start their campaign of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup to be held at Thailand from March 1-16 next year.
Following a historic goalless draw against Asian Champions Iraq in the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers in Aleppo, Syria in October this year, the Pakistani players’ morale has reached new levels and now they won’t feel any pressure in the AFC Challenge Cup, Akhtar said. 16 emerging football playing nations of Asia will participate in the tournament. “It is the mental composure that wins you matches, and our players are mentally well prepared to take the challenge in Thailand,” he said.
However, the coach is not willing to inject young blood into the line-up, and is rather interested to test the same squad which had played the two matches of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers against Iraq in October. “It would not be appropriate to test too many youngsters at this stage. In case of injuries to regular players, new faces could be included,” Akhtar said.
Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has asked Akhtar to observe the matches of the ongoing Premier Football League and select the boys for the camp which is expected to be held at Lahore in January next year.
The coach is optimistic that Pakistan would send more good news from Thailand, saying, “All my players are practicing hard as they are currently playing in the Premier League, and when they would come to the camp for the AFC Challenge Cup they would be fitter and this would help them to perform better in the Challenge Cup.”
In the previous AFC Challenge Cup held in Bangladesh in April 2006, Pakistan collected four points in the first round. The Greenshirts had defeated Kyrgyzstan by 1-0, and drew Macau 2-2. They had to suffer a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the champions Tajikistan.