Rasool and Rizwan light up quarter-finals

Muhammad Rasool and Rizwan Asif both scored hat-tricks in the quarter-finals of the KPT Challenge Cup to send KRL and KESC in to the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament.

The Pakistani Internationals are already heralded as one of the finest exponents of their art in the National team and further enhanced their reputation after starring in the quarter-finals.

Rizwan Asif, who also played in the SAFF Cup last year, was on hand to guide Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) to the latter stages of the competition after easing past Karachi Port Trust with a resounding 3-0 win.

KRL coach Tariq Lutfi was ecstatic with the victory but remained unconvinced by his side’s performance despite the score-line.

“Rizwan looked in wonderful touch,” he said.

“But still I am not satisfied with the overall performance of my team. We could have scored three or four more goals, but the boys took it easy after hitting three. Our semifinal against Navy will be a tough one.”

KPT boss Mohammad Asif also lamented his team’s display and said that once they had conceded twice, coming back into the game for them was always going to be difficult.

“The first goal was wrongly given. We had planned to take a cautious start and then go for an attack, but everything was spoiled after we conceded two goals in the first half.”

Rasool, who now has two hat tricks to his name also commented after the game and revealed that he would continue to put in elbow grease in order to lead his club to glory.

“I always try to put in my best and will continue to do so,” the striker said.

His fellow teammate and former Pakistan skipper Muhammad Essa also had some choice words after the routine win, saying that the form of the front-line and discipline at the back was a major contributor to their victories.

“We got a lot of advantage of counter-attacks. Rasool looks in the form of his life. Our defence also played an organized game.”

He also looked forward to the upcoming semi-final against traditional powerhouses WAPDA, who boast several quality players in Nomi Martin Gill and of course captain Arif Mehmood.

“WAPDA are a good side and we will have to play very carefully against them in the semifinal.”

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Posted by Shahrukh Sohail on Mar 21 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