Lahore, 12 December : Two second half strikes by Jacobabad-born players Zulfiqar Ali Shah and Khuda Bakhsh fired the precious goal as Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) recorded their eighth national football title when they flattened Sui Southern Gas Company 2-1 in the league match of the Pakistan Premier Football League at soccer field of KPT – Benazir Sports Complex, West Wharf Road, Kharadar, Karachi. The electricitymen earlier lifted the title in 1983, 1991, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008.
Meanwhile in other matches on Sunday, the Karachi-based bankers suffered defeats with identical margin of 0-2. Pakistan Army got rid of HBL with goals from two international Imrans. Left full Muhammad Imran, playing upfront, opened scoring in the second minute and striker and captain Imran Hussain completed the job in the 65th minute at Peoples Sports Complex, Mauripur Road, Lyari Town. KRL edged out NBP 2-0 with lanky international spearhead Muhammad Qasim slammed goals in each half in the 18th and 81st minute at Sharafi Goth’s Korangi Baloch Stadium, Landhi Town.
WAPDA, with four games in hand, secured unbeatable 64 points in 26 matches winning 20 matches with goal counts of 56-16. Premier League saw the completion of 210 out of 240 matches and their nearest rivals – KESC 50 points, Army 49, KRL 33 – all completed 26 matches will not be able to reach figure of 64 in their remaining four matches. Their only interest will be second place in the event that will conclude on 28 December.
Nawab Karim Uddin-coached SSGC had to blame themselves for giving WAPDA three points as they failed to avail the chances particularly spearhead Asim Faiz who failed to accomplish the task three times in the first session. On the other hand, WAPDA capitalized their two of the three chances after 0-0 at interval.
Shortly-built Zulfiqar hammered his seventh goal off little midfielder Muhammad Asif’s defence splitting lob to give WAPDA 59th minute lead. Khuda Bakhsh, went into arena in place of Imran Niazi in the first half as sub, consolidated the lead three minutes later when he dashed through the middle to make it 2-0 as keeper Adnan Ahmed wondered where his cover might be.
SSGC’s striker Asim Faiz, who earlier played for KPT in the PPFL, pulled one back in the 75th minute after fine work by skipper Shah Nawaz, a UP Gymkhana right-full. It was 16th goal for Asim Faiz who remained second behind leading hitman Arif Mehmood (WAPDA) 20 goals. SSGC went all out in quest of equalizer but they failed to create impression on keeper Abdul Aziz and back four Muhammad Asif, Fakhar Hayat, Muzaffar Ali and Akram Masih as WAPDA clinched their eighth national soccer title.
Pakistan WAPDA, under skipper Arif Mehmood, have became second successful team of National Championship joining Punjab as holder of eight titles after table-topper Pakistan International Airlines (9 titles). Karachi lifted the title six times while Pakistan Army collected the title four times, ABL and Balochistan won the top berth thrice, followed by two-times champion Dhaka, Sindh, Pakistan Railways, Faisalabad’s Crescent Textile Mills. Peshawar, East Pakistan, Chittagong, Habib Bank Limited, Quetta and Pakistan Air Force managed to win the national event once.
In PFF League, Baloch FC lost to Muslim FC 0-3 at Punjab Football Stadium with Hayat Ullah scoring twice in the 4th and 73rd minute while Saeed Ahmed chipped in with a single goal in the 69th minute. The same venue saw, Wohaib FC of Lahore drew 0-0 with Faisalabad’s University FC.
Monday (13 Dec) Fixture:
Premier League: KPT v PEL (KPT – Benazir Sports Complex, West Wharf Road, Kharadar, Karachi 2.30 PM), KESC v Navy (Peoples Sports Complex, Mauripur Road, Lyari Town 2.30 PM), PIA v PAF (Sharafi Goth’s Korangi Baloch Stadium, Landhi Town 2.30 PM))
PFF League: PTV v Pak Steel (Railway Stadium 2 PM)
From the desk of :
PPFL Match Commissioner Mian Rizwan Ali
(0300-9450683)
WAPDA ANNEX NATIONAL FOOTBALL TITLE
Pakistan Premier Football League
……………..…SUMMARISED RESULT ( 12 December 2010)
SSGC 1 ( Asim Faiz 75)
WAPDA 2 (Zulfiqar Ali Shah 59, Khuda Bakhsh 62)
( At KPT – Benazir Sports Complex, West Wharf Road, Kharadar, Karachi.
HBL 0
Army 2 ( Muhammad Imran 2, Imran Hussain 65)
(At Peoples Sports Complex, Mauripur Road, Lyari Town)
NBP 0
KRL 2 (Muhammad Qasim 2 – 18, 81)
(At Sharafi Goth’s Korangi Baloch Stadium, Landhi Town)
………………………………………………………………………….,..
POINTS TABLE after 210 Encounters
Deadline : 13 December 2010…12 Noon
P W D L GF GA Pts
WAPDA 26 20 4 2 56 16 64
KESC 26 15 5 6 54 24 50
Army 26 14 7 5 33 16 49
KRL 26 14 6 6 33 16 48
PIA 25 13 7 5 41 20 46
KPT 25 12 5 8 46 38 41
Navy 26 11 7 8 31 27 40
Afghan FC 26 11 6 9 37 26 39
PAF 26 11 6 9 25 26 39
PEL 26 11 4 11 35 40 37
Baloch FC 28 7 10 11 28 32 31
NBP 26 6 11 9 30 40 29
HBL 26 4 6 16 19 36 18
Y. Blood 28 4 6 18 22 65 18
SSGC 26 4 4 18 32 66 16
PMC 28 3 6 19 19 53 15