14-Feb-2012
The News
KARACHI: The country’s football governing body (PFF) is yet to decide whether to hold training camp of the senior team as foreign countries have not responded positively to a call from Pakistan to play a friendly game on FIFA Day.
“I am going to Islamabad and will discuss the issue with the president Faisal Saleh Hayat and decide whether we should hold camp for a few days in order to bring the boys into shape,” PFF secretary Col Ahmad Yar Khan Lodhi told ‘The News’ on Monday while on way to the federal capital.
The camp was scheduled to start from Wednesday (tomorrow) at Lahore. But after no international friendly was arranged, the camp now seems meaningless as the boys could also keep themselves in better shape in the preparatory campaigns of their respective departments aiming to feature in the National Challenge Cup in the second week of next month.
Coach Zavisa wanted matches for Pakistan on FIFA days, which fall on February 29 and March 4, but his hopes were dashed after no foreign country agreed to make such a deal with the PFF.
The PFF sent requests to Afghanistan, Maldives, Nepal and a few central Asian countries, but they all remained silent. Only Uzbekistan offered Pakistan to play with them on FIFA Day on a neutral venue in Dubai, but the PFF declined the offer, fearing that the step could cost Pakistan more. |
