Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has approved KESC's striker Muhammad Essa Khan as captain of Pakistan football team which will appear in biennial SAFF Championship that will be staged at Dhaka's Bangabandhu National Stadium from 4th-14th December, 2009.
The 21-player Dhaka bound team, under coach George Kottan (Austria) is comprised of Goalkeepers (2): Jaffar Khan Vice Captain, Aamir Gul; Defenders (7): Muhammad Shahid, Haji Muhammad, Aurangzeb, Shabbir Khan, Samar Ishaq, Zeeshan Rehman, Amjad Iqbal; Midfielders (7): Nasrullah Khan, Muhammad Essa Khan Captain, Abdul Aziz, Adnan Farooq Ahmed, Atif Bashir, Reis Ashraf, Mehmood Ali; Strikers (5): Safi Ullah Khan, Mudassar Saeed, Jadid Khan Pathan, Arif Mehmood, Khuda Bakhsh.
It may be noted that the 8th edition of the premier football event in South Asia will be comprised of 15 matches. Pakistan Army's skipper and goalkeeper Jaffar Khan will act his deputy in this event.
NBP's Mehmood Khan, who acted as vice captain during Thailand Tour, failed to fine spot in the team alongwith Atiq Ullah, Nomi Martin Gill and Zulfiqar Ali Shah. "Pakistan is drawn in tough Group B, having Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. One of the best teams in South Asian Football would be knocked out of the event from this group before semis. It will be uphill task to face host Bangladesh and ever-improving Sri Lanka while Bhutan is always strong as they showed last year.
The tournament was played earlier in Dhaka in 2003 in which Bangladesh emerged victorious for the first time under Austrian coach George Kottan who is now National coach of Pakistan. "We are pinning hopes on combination of foreign and domestic players to turn the tide at Dhaka," said PFF President Faisal Saleh Hayat.
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