LAHORE: On a lush green ground in the Model Town area of Lahore, 50 football players from different parts of Pakistan are preparing to challenge for the Asian Games title in August in Jakarta.
The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has arranged the training camp to prepare the national team for the Asian Games and South Asian Football Championship a month later in Bangladesh.
Brazilian coach Jose Antonio Nogueira is leading a team of eight coaches honing the players’ skills. Another Brazilian trainer, Jose Roberto Portella, is working hard to improve players’ fitness.
The camp is the PFF’s first comprehensive exercise since FIFA lifted a ban on Pakistan football on March 13, paving the way for foreign coaches to work in the country.
Nogueira will work with the national team for three years while his salary is paid by the Bahrain Football Association.
“The game of football (in Pakistan) was ruined in the past three years. We have just started from scratch,” said Shahid Khokhar, PFF’s director of league development and media.
“The PFF picked this talent from the national championship. We hope we will get a good team to represent the country. We will select 25 players from this squad,” Khokhar told Arab News.
Before taking part in the Asian Games, the national team will play four international friendly matches after a 15-day training camp.
The PFF is also trying to arrange an international friendly with Afghanistan, he said.
Ramadan observations and high daytime temperatures mean training at the camp takes place at night.
“I want to get a place in the national team. I’m working hard on fitness and to learn modern technique,” Vicky Baloch, a player at the camp, told Arab News.
Nogueira said that Pakistan’s players have talent but need to learn “modern football.”
“They play old football, and I am teaching them the modern game. They have the potential and will make a good team,” he said.
Syed Faisal Salah Hayat, PFF’s president, said he was happy with playing standards on display at the camp.
“The players are provided with proper coaching and facilities to bring the team’s fitness to global standards,” he said.
Pakistan football squad begins Asian Games campaign
Pakistan football squad begins Asian Games campaign
- The training camp will prepare the players for Asian Games and South Asian Football Championship matches coming up in August and September this year respectively
- The Brazilian trainer, Jose Roberto Portella, using his experience, will be able to make these players super-fit,” the PFF said in a recently released statement
Two own goals save Arsenal blushes against Wolves
LONDON: Arsenal avoided a major embarrassment against Premier League bottom club Wolves on Saturday, benefiting from two own goals — one in stoppage time — to win 2-1 and move five points clear of Manchester City.
Manager Mikel Arteta admitted that his team had struggled to create clear chances and that the win should have been much more comfortable.
But he said that the manner of the victory would give the team a major boost.
“That gives you belief that regardless of how the game goes, you can always find a solution to win it,” he told TNT Sports.
“But now we’re going to have a clean week. We need to start to train certain aspects slowly, because if you don’t train them, you start to deteriorate a little bit.”
Arteta’s men were blunt in the first half, failing to muster a single shot on target as Gabriel Martinelli wasted a clutch of chances.
The Arsenal boss made three changes shortly before the hour mark, bringing on Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino for Martinelli, Eberechi Eze and Martin Zubimendi.
The Gunners mounted wave after wave of attacks, and Declan Rice’s shot midway through the second half — their first on target — was well saved by Sam Johnstone.
But in the 70th minute the sheer weight of pressure told to the enormous relief of an impatient and nervy Emirates crowd.
Johnstone flicked Bukayo Saka’s corner onto a post as he scrambled to reach the ball but it rebounded back onto his arm and into the net for an own goal.
Gabriel Jesus came on for Viktor Gyokores for his first home match after 11 months out injured.
Astonishingly, Wolves pulled level in the 90th minute, when Mateus Mane’s flat cross was headed in by Nigerian striker Tolu Arokodare.
But just as the Arsenal fans contemplated a damaging draw, the Gunners benefited from a second own goal.
Saka delivered a perfect cross which Jesus attacked but the ball was diverted into his own net by Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera.
Winless Wolves, with a ninth league defeat in a row, have mustered just two points from their 16 games so far and are on course for the worst season in Premier League history.
Pep Guardiola’s City travel to in-form Crystal Palace on Sunday seeking to close the gap to Arsenal, who have not won the Premier League since 2004.
