Naveed Akram: One of Pakistan’s best right-backs ever

Naveed Akram: One of Pakistan’s best right-backs ever

Multan-born Naveed Akram has been one of the star performers of the Pakistan National Team in the last couple of years. His exceptional attacking abilities and defensive solidarity make him one of the only true wingbacks ever to emerge from the Nation.

Playing for WAPDA FC since 2003, the talented defender was thrust on to the International stage when he debuted in the 2005 series against India. Although the headlines during the friendly series were dominated by a certain Muhammad Essa, Naveed Akram cemented
his place in the Green Shirts starting eleven.

A year later, the 27-year-old put in one of his most memorable performances to date in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Pakistan played AFC giants Japan and no one expected them to rise up to the occasion.

Things went as foreseen and Japan were eventually cruising to a 3-0 victory, with Keisuke Honda also getting on the score sheet. But Muhammad Rasool gave the Green Kickers some hope as he hit a free-kick under the wall to take the score to 3-1.

Essa then displayed his excellent passing abilities and pinged a long cross field ball to Naveed Akram, who to everyone’s surprise chose to strike it first time rather than controlling it. The sweet strike nestled in the bottom corner and while Pakistan
did not go on to win the match, Naveed had truly established himself.

He followed that up with an even more breathtaking goal in the 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers, as the Pakistani National team again came close to causing a major upset against the UAE.

Although he hasn’t featured for quite a while now, the player demonstrated his abilities as he was able to engineer a temporary loan deal to the Nepali A Division. He was also considered by Zavisa Milosavljevic for a place in the SAFF Cup but due to injuries
and lack of fitness, Akram had to be content by playing in the Pakistan Premier League.

However he still has much to give to the National team and can provide attacking options down the right, which have been clearing lacking in the current squad. 

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Posted by Shahrukh Sohail on Jan 8 2012. 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