ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan beat Pakistan 3-0 when the two sides met in the second round of the FIFA football World Cup qualifiers in Dushanbe on Tuesday, putting an end to a disappointing campaign by the green shirts. 

The South Asian team lost to the Saudi football team 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying matches when they faced off in Al Ahsa in November 2023. Later, Pakistan suffered another setback in round one of the qualifiers when they lost 6-1 to Tajikistan in Islamabad days after losing to Saudi Arabia. 

On June 6, Saudi Arabia beat Pakistan 3-0 at the Jinnah Football Stadium in Islamabad in second round of the qualifiers. 

“Tajikistan has defeated Pakistan 3-0 in Pakistan’s last away match,” the PFF said in a statement. 

Tajik footballer Mabateshoev Shervoni drew first blood in the 35th minute of the match when he netted a goal. Safarov Manuche made it 2-0 for Tajikistan in the 65th minute before Vahdat Hanonov made all chances of a Pakistan comeback futile in the 70th minute by netting a third. 

Pakistan are bottom-placed in Group G of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and already out of the race to qualify for the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifying matches after losing four matches on the trot.

Apart from Saudi Arabia, the other two teams with Pakistan in Group G are Jordan and Tajikistan. In the second round of the qualifiers, a total of 36 football squads have been split into nine groups with four teams each. The winners and runners-up from each group would go through to the third round.

Pakistan’s football team arrived in Tajikistan via a special air force flight on Tuesday afternoon due to flight delays, hours before the match was due to begin. 

The team’s earlier scheduled flight for Tajikistan was halted “due to technical issues,” the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) had said on Monday.

Pakistan squad:

Goalkeepers: Yousuf Butt (D), Saqib Hanif and Hassan Ali

Defenders: Abdullah Iqbal (D), Mohammad Fazal (D), Haseeb Khan, Rao Omer Hayat, Mamoon Moosa, Mohammad Saddam, Waqar Ihtisham, Moin Ahmed and Abdul Rehman

Midfielders: Rahis Nabi (D), Otis Khan (D), Ali Uzair, Umair Ali, Toqeer ul Hassan, Alamgir Ghazi and Ali Zafar

Forwards: Imran Kayani (D), McKeal Abdulah, Fareedulah, Adeel Younas and Shayak Dost

ISLAMABAD, June 11 : Pakistan’s economy is likely to have expanded by 2.4 percent in the fiscal year that ends this month after contracting 0.17 percent during the previous year, the government’s economic survey showed on Tuesday, a day before the country’s federal budget is unveiled.

The growth estimate is in line with the State Bank of Pakistan’s full-year projection. The SBP cut its key interest rate by 150 basis points on Monday, in its first rate reduction in nearly four years as it strives to boost the economy.

Pakistan’s current account deficit narrowed sharply by 95 percent to $200 million in the July to April period of FY24 versus $3.9 billion in the same period a year ago, the survey showed.

The current account registered three straight months of surpluses until April, and May could be another month of surplus, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said.

The government in its monthly economic review at the end of May said it was targeting economic expansion of 3.6 percent for the new fiscal year starting in July, amid an uptick in economic activity.

Pakistan is in talks with the IMF for a loan estimated to be anything between $6 billion to $8 billion to avert a default for an economy that is growing at the slowest pace in the region.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has publicly expressed his commitment to tough reforms since coming to power in a February election. These would be critical to securing the IMF loan, but high prices, unemployment and a lack of new job opportunities have piled political pressure on his coalition government.