Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) President has approved Pakistan Wapda's striker Arif Mehmood as captain of Pakistan U-23 soccer team, which will appear in 11th South Asian Games 2010. The Bangladeshi capital would host the 11th South Asian Games from 29th January to 9th February 2010. However, the U-23 football event, comprising 16 matches, will be played at Dhaka and Chittagong from 28th January to 8th February.
NBP's skipper and midfielder Abdul Aziz, who struck important winner against India in final of the event six years ago at Islamabad, will act his deputy. Of the 26 players, Ghulam Nabi, Muhammad Ahmad, Akram Masih, Reis Ashraf, Adnan Farooq Ahmed, Shabir Khan and Jahangir Khan failed to find place in the final 19 due to some reasons. Arif Mehmood is the only Pakistani to score hat trick in history of SAFF Championship (three against Bhutan last December) and leading scorer of the Pakistan Premier League in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2009.
The 19-member team is comprised of Goalkeepers (2): Aamir Gul, Bilal Rafiq, Defenders (6): Muhammad Shahid, Haji Muhammad, Aurangzeb, Abbas Ali, Ali Ahsan, Muhammad Idrees; Midfielders (6): Abdul Aziz, Atif Bashir, Mehmood Ali, Zubair Ahmed, Muhammad Wasim, Muhammad Adil; Strikers (5): Jadid Khan Pathan, Arif Mehmood, Asif Mahmood, Muhammad Rizwan and Adeem Shahzad.
The officials are George Adalbert Kottan Manager/Coach), Shahzad Anwar, Asghar Khan Anjum (Assistant Coaches), Muhammad Aslam Khan (GK Coach), Dr Kamran Mehdi (Physiotherapist). Pakistan is drawn in tough Group B, having three-time gold medalist India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
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