Lahore, 19 April: National Champion WAPDA will collide with Nepal Police Club at Dasarath Rangasala Stadium while Taiwan Power Company will take on Balkan at Halchowk Stadium as the 7th AFC President’s Cup 2011 will commence tomorrow, 20 April 2011 with two Group-C matches, The kick off for both the games in 3.30 PM.
WAPDA’s next outing will be against Taiwan Power Company (22 April) and Balkan (24 April) at Halchowk Stadium. WAPDA will rue the absence of Jacobabad-born Khuda Bakhsh who is famous in domestic soccer as Super-sub. The man who struck hat-trick against KPT in PPFL 2010, decided to quit due to personal reasons.
“My target was to win but now it seems a little difficult. I had a very balanced side, but losing key substitute is devastating,” said WAPDA coach Khalid Butt.
Meanwhile, Turkmenistan League Champion FC Balkan coach, formerly Nebitchi, Alexander Klimenko has vowed to win all the three Group-C games.“The players are determined to cross the first stage and the team is injury free,” he said. “We don’t have much information about our rivals but they are all champions of their respective countries. We will aim to win all the games in order to seal our place in the finals,” he said.
The squad of two teams:
WAPDA
Goal keepers (4): Abdul Aziz (HESCO), Muzammil Hussain (LESCO), Rao Yamin (MEPCO), Basit Ghafoor (NTDC)
Defenders (8): Muhammad Ahmed (LESCO), Akram Masih (GEPCO), Muhammad Asif (FESCO), Naveed Akram (MEPCO), Muzaffar Ali (NTDC), Rana Fakhar Hayat (LESCO), Manzoor Ahmed (NTDC), Muhammad Shahid (MEPCO)
Midfielders (7): Mehmood Ali (QESCO), Syed Arif Hussain (MEPCO), Zulfiqar Ali Shah (HESCO), Zain Ullah (NTDC), Muhammad Tauseef (LESCO), Shahid Mehmood (GEPCO), Ayaz Baloch (HESCO)
Strikers (8) : Imran Niazi (FESCO), Qamar Zaman (NTDC), Arif Mehmood (MEPCO), Khuda Bakhsh (HESCO), Jadeed Khan Pathan (LESCO), Muhammad Afzal (FESCO), Zeeshan Javed (GEPCO), Ghulam Abbas (FESCO),
Nepal Police FC :
Goal keepers: Ritesh Thapa, Mukunda Thapa Magar
Defenders: Rakesh Shrestha, Lil Bahadur Rai, Dipendra Paudel,Ravi Dev Subedi, Rabin Shrestha, Dipak Paudel, Suman Subedi
Mid Fielders: Parbat Pandey, Ramesh Kumar Rai, Kunjan Shrestha Anant Raj Thapa, Arjun Rijal, Bhola Nath Silwal, Chetan Ghimire, Roshan Karki
Strikers: Ramesh Budhathoki, Ju Manu Rai, Arjun Rijal, Nuckard Debunny
AFC President’s Cup 2011, Group C – FIXTURES
(Pakistan WAPDA, Nepal Police Club NEPAL, Taiwan Power Company TAIWAN, Balkan TURKMENISTAN, – all six matches to be played at Kathmandu, Nepal at 3.30 PM)
20 April: Nepal Police Club v WAPDA (Dasarath Rangasala Stadium), Taiwan Power Company v Balkan (Halchowk Stadium)
22 April: WAPDA v Taiwan Power Company (Halchowk Stadium), Balkan v Nepal Police Club (Dasarath Rangasala Stadium)
24 April: Nepal Police Club v Taiwan Power Company (Dasarath Rangasala Stadium), Balkan v WAPDA (Halchowk Stadium)