Pak U22 football team to visit Palestine [The News]

Sports Correspondent – The News

KARACHI: Pakistan Under-22 football team will feature in the Al-Nakba International Football tournament which will be held in Palestine from May 1-15, a team official told ‘The News’ on Saturday.

It will be the second time when Pakistan features in the competition as the Greenshirts — under former coach Serbian Zavisa Milosavljevic — participated in the tournament in 2012.

“As Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) will be featuring in the AFC President’s Cup first round from May 1-11, there is a chance that we may take a couple of their players to Palestine while the rest would be given to them for the continental third-tier club slots,” the team official pointed out.

As many as eight players of KRL are in the camp.

Pakistan, in the previous edition of the same competition, held Palestine to a 2-2 draw and Vietnam to a goalless draw.

Pakistan Under-22 camp is currently in operation at the City School Ground in Lahore under coach Mohammed Shamlan.

The team is preparing for the Asian Games and Under-22 Asian Cup Qualifiers.

Asian Games are scheduled to be hosted by the South Korean city of Incheon from September 19 to October 4 while the schedule of the Asian Cup Qualifiers is yet to be unveiled.

“We are not yet sure about the qualifiers,” the official said.

The Asian Cup Qualifiers were last held in June-July 2012 in Saudi Arabia while this time they are likely to be conducted at the end of the year.