KARACHI: Leisure Leagues Pakistan (LLP) has officially announced a 14-member squad and head coach for the upcoming Socca Seven-a-Side Football World Cup, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal from September 23.
Pakistan’s renowned football coach Tariq Lutfi will coach Pakistan squad and will also accompany the team during the 32-team mega event. Lutfi is considered as the best football coach in Pakistan. Lutfi has coached both men and women’s national team in the past. He has also coached departmental teams and is coaching SSGC at the moment.
Pakistan has been placed in Group ‘B’ along with Spain and Russia. The fourth team in the group is Moldova.
All ten players of Lahore’s ICAW club, which won Pakistan’s National Leisure Leagues Championship last month, along with one player from each semifinalist teams and one player from Street Children Football team has also joined the team, to complete the allowed 14-player squad.
According to Leisure Leagues official statement, the criteria to select Pakistan team was Leisure Leagues National Finals, which ICAW won. But the championship allowed only 10 players from each side and to reinforce the Lahore’s team for Pakistan’s campaign in Lisbon, four more players have been added. Socca World Cup organizers allow teams to bring a 14-player squad.
The criteria to select remaining four players has been kept simple – one player each from each Peshawar’s Muhammad Alamgir, Quetta’s Muhammad Kashif and Karachi’s Zafar Khan has been picked. Apart from Lahore, these three teams qualified for Leisure Leagues National semifinals. Each semifinalist team’s management recommended the player from their respective teams.
Meanwhile, Karachi’s Sameer Khan, who represented Pakistan in Street Child World Cup, is the fourth player added in the squad with expectations to bolster Pakistan’s chances in the event.
Chairman World Group Mehmood Trunkwala has advised players to work diligently and improve their game before the football extravaganza in Lisbon and wished them best of luck and also hoped that the team will perform well. World Group owns Leisure Leagues Pakistan.
The 32 teams have been divided into eight groups of four teams each. After playing matches against one another in the group, two top teams from each group will qualify for last-16 knockout round. From here, teams would progress to quarterfinals, semifinals and eventually final, which will be played on September 29.
Squad:
Afaq Ahmed, Hafiz Muhammad Waleed, Umer Javeed, Haider Ali, Saad Ali Khan, Zaid Mehmood, Aamir Iqbal Gondal, Abdul Hanan Javad, Zabi Ullah Warraich, Muhammad Zubair Adil (Lahore), Muhammad Alamgir (Peshawar), Muhammad Kashif (Quetta), Zafar Khan (Karachi), Sameer Ahmed.
