SAFF Championship 2013 Preview: India vs Pakistan

New Regime

Leading up to the tournament, the advantage Pakistan had over India was the fact that their Serbian head coach Zavisa Milosavljevic had been in charge in 2011, including the last SAFF Championship, and thus was more familiar with South Asian football.

But that advantage has been lost as Milosavljevic was replaced by Shahzad Anwar after a 3-0 defeat to Afghanistan. Mohammed Shamlan from Bahrain has also been appointed as the technical consultant,and the players have had very little time to adapt under the new coaching staff.

Although Anwar stated that they lost against Afghanistan because they experimented with the team ahead of SAFF 2013, confidence surely won’t be sky high in the Pakistan camp.

However, the form book becomes irrelevant in an India-Pakistan match, and the green shirts will relish being the underdogs.The presence of their five-foreign based players, including former EPL defender Zesh Rehman, will certainly give Pakistan a great chance of causing an upset.

FILE PHOTO: Former EPL defender Zesh Rehman’s presence will give Pakistan great boost

Captain Samar Ishaq and coach Anwar also admitted that the availability of Zesh has given the whole dressing room a big lift as the 29-year-old Kitchee defender is by far the most high profile Pakistan footballer and makes a return to the SAFF Championship after eight years.

Like India, Pakistan too played just one international friendly in the build up to the tournament but they did reach Kathmandu a week before their opening fixture and thus could adapt to the altitude and conditions better.

Every match in Group A is a potential six-pointer with every team having the quality to go through to the semi-finals, so although India are the favourites, Pakistan will be determined to avoid defeat at least in a bid to reach the semi-finals.

Pakistan have probably been the biggest underachievers in SAFF Championship’s history as they are one of the four teams to have featured in every edition and have also hosted the competition twice.

Yet, they have never even reached the final and have failed to get past the group stage in the last three editions.

Foreign-born players have been playing for the national team for some time now and the Pakistan football federation is still on the lookout for more overseas talent.

But to attract more quality players from abroad, Pakistan will have to start being consistent at South Asian level at least. For this purpose, they must find the right balance between homegrown and foreign talent in this tournament.

Anwar’s local expertise and Shamlan’s technical knowledge could turn this Pakistan team into the darkhorses of SAFF 2013 but they must make a positive start against India.