Zaviša Milosavljevi? faces a daunting task in Pakistan

Zaviša Milosavljevi? faces a daunting task in Pakistan

Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) provided an early eid present to the followers of the beautiful game in the country, when they appointed Zaviša Milosavljevi? as the new coach of the National team.

For the entire year, critics and fans alike have lamented the federation’s inability to hire a foreign coach to guide the team through the AFC Challenge Cup and 2014 World Cup qualifiers. However the officials did nothing and allowed Tariq Lutfi to squander
any chance of making it to a proper tournament.

When everyone associated with the game, were beginning to fear the worst, the PFF surprised everyone and acquired the services of the Serbian trainer in a bid to improve the woeful standards of the National team.

Col Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, the General Secretary of the federation, unveiled the much welcomed coach to the public at the PFF house. While most were rightfully enthralled, the fact remains the former Lesotho boss will have his hands full with the current
state of football in Pakistan.

Tariq Lutfi’s latest tenure has all but ruled out the Green-Kickers of qualifying for a prestigious competition and the SAFF Cup remains the sole avenue where some much needed silverware and pride can be rescued.

However winning the championship containing the likes of India and Bangladesh is easier said than done and Milosavljevi? will have his hands full for this one.

While Pakistan were able to conquer the SAFF Cup in the U-16 category, replicating their feats would require a major revitalisation and an influx of quality, which is surprisingly not impossible despite the substandard football in the Islamic Republic.

Having worked with different levels of the Serbian National Team, Milosavljevi? will be keen to add young talents to the senior squad and many potential stars such as Rizwan Asif, who were overlooked in the previous regime should be given the nod.

While Lutfi had a policy of excluding all foreign players from the camp, if they failed to arrive one month in advance, the new tactician knows that the likes of Adnan Ahmed, Atif Bashir and Yousuf Butt cannot just simply leave their clubs and come to Pakistan
for a month long training camp.

Although he should call-up all the foreign players at his disposal, including the notorious Zeeshan Rehman, skilled local players should also be presented with an opportunity to make their mark.

However the biggest obstacle in Zaviša Milosavljevi?’s road to glory are the players who use their contacts to make the National Team. One such example is Kaleemullah, a thoroughly worthless player, who has remarkably been able to feature 15 times for Pakistan.

If he can utilize the talented players at his disposal and keep out failures such as Kaleemullah, the Pakistan National team might be able to improve upon their performances and do justice to the popularity of football in the country. 

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=3032

Posted by Shahrukh Sohail on Nov 10 2011. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry