Pakistan to return with new identity at SAFF Women’s Championship

KARACHI: The wait is finally over.

Pakistan’s eight-year hiatus from international football will come to an end on Wednesday when they clash with India in their SAFF Women’s Championship opener at the Dasarath Stadium in Kathmandu.

After years of political turmoil in the Pakistan Football Federation, the focus, for now at least, has shifted towards the field as a new crop of players look to define the women’s national side’s identity.

The Pakistan squad does have eight players, who were part of the team when it last played an international fixture back in 2014, but the side which takes on India will still be a new-look one.

While Pakistan have trained for just a month to prepare for the event, for assistant coach Walid Javaid Khan, the team is one of the best he has seen.

“We have had only a month to train but honestly speaking, I’ve seen some of the women’s national teams of the past and I feel like this lot is undoubtedly one of the best squads,” Walid told Dawn from the Nepalese capital.

The squad is dominated by the presence of some promising home-grown players, but it will depend on the experience of captain Maria Khan and Nadia Khan, the only overseas members in the side.

While midfielder Maria brings in experience of playing in the US and the UAE, forward Nadia is an established pro, who plays for the Doncaster Rovers Belles in the fourth tier of England’s women’s football pyramid.

The 31-year-old Walid, who led Highlanders WFC to the quarter-finals of the 2021 National Women’s Championship last year, said the Pakistan dressing room was upbeat ahead of the tournament.

“Everybody is motivated and the morale is very high and it’s the same with the coaches too,” he said. “We are really hopeful for some positive results.”

Walid said Pakistan’s preference would be to keep the ball and play attacking football, but believed it was important to play according to the opponent.

“We have few styles that we want to adopt but it’s definitely going to vary from team to team,” he said. “The way we want to play will obviously depend on how our opponents play.

“Our [preferred] style is to keep the ball down, try to have passes, try to connect and mostly combination plays. You’ll surely see glimpses of our ideas on the field.”

NEPAL MAKE WINNING START

The tournament got underway on Tuesday with hosts Nepal opening their Group ‘B’ campaing with a 4-0 drubbing of Bhutan at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu.

Sabitra Bhandari and Anita Basnet scored twice each as Bhutan’s miserable record of never having won a game at the tournament continued.

Bhandari opened the scoring in the 12th minute but Nepal had to wait until halfway through the second-half to double their lead with Bhandari’s second. Basnet then scored in the 73rd and 85th to wrap up victory for her side.