Pakistan football squad begins Asian Games campaign

Brazilian trainer Jose Roberto Portella gives fitness tips to the Pakistan national football team at their training camp for the Asian Games. (AN photo)

• The training camp will prepare the players for Asian Games and South Asian Football Championship matches coming up in August and September this year respectively
• The Brazilian trainer, Jose Roberto Portella, using his experience, will be able to make these players super-fit,” the PFF said in a recently released statement

LAHORE: On a lush green ground in the Model Town area of Lahore, 50 football players from different parts of Pakistan are preparing to challenge for the Asian Games title in August in Jakarta.
The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has arranged the training camp to prepare the national team for the Asian Games and South Asian Football Championship a month later in Bangladesh.
Brazilian coach Jose Antonio Nogueira is leading a team of eight coaches honing the players’ skills. Another Brazilian trainer, Jose Roberto Portella, is working hard to improve players’ fitness.
The camp is the PFF’s first comprehensive exercise since FIFA lifted a ban on Pakistan football on March 13, paving the way for foreign coaches to work in the country.
Nogueira will work with the national team for three years while his salary is paid by the Bahrain Football Association.
“The game of football (in Pakistan) was ruined in the past three years. We have just started from scratch,” said Shahid Khokhar, PFF’s director of league development and media.
“The PFF picked this talent from the national championship. We hope we will get a good team to represent the country. We will select 25 players from this squad,” Khokhar told Arab News.
Before taking part in the Asian Games, the national team will play four international friendly matches after a 15-day training camp.
The PFF is also trying to arrange an international friendly with Afghanistan, he said.
Ramadan observations and high daytime temperatures mean training at the camp takes place at night.
“I want to get a place in the national team. I’m working hard on fitness and to learn modern technique,” Vicky Baloch, a player at the camp, told Arab News.
Nogueira said that Pakistan’s players have talent but need to learn “modern football.”
“They play old football, and I am teaching them the modern game. They have the potential and will make a good team,” he said.
Syed Faisal Salah Hayat, PFF’s president, said he was happy with playing standards on display at the camp.
“The players are provided with proper coaching and facilities to bring the team’s fitness to global standards,” he said.