Pakistan team to leave for Saudi Arabia tomorrow ahead of Syria clash

After undergoing a week-long training camp at Lahore’s Model Town Ground, Pakistan football team is set to leave for Saudi Arabia on late Thursday (tomorrow) to face Syria in their Group E opener of the Asian Cup Qualifiers in Al-Ahsa on March 25.

“Yes, all players, both home-grown and foreign-based and officials, got visas and the team is set to leave tomorrow night,” a well-placed source, who is aware of the development, told Nukta.

The same venue in Al-Ahsa is being utilized for the show where Pakistan had played against Saudi Arabia in November 2023 in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers second round.

The team was scheduled to conduct their last training session Wednesday night (today).

The team will first land in Dammam and will then proceed by bus to Al-Ahsa which is hardly at one-and-a-half-hour drive.

According to well-placed sources UK-born center-back Easah Suliman, who plays for Sumgayit FC in the Azerbaijan League and has also captained the Green-shirts, is not part of the side due to fitness issues. He was in the initial list announced a few days ago.

All foreign-based players, head coach Stephen Constantine and his support staff will also travel to Al-Ahsa on Thursday from their respective countries.

“You know it’s a tough event. We needed to prepare well but could not get enough time but still we are trying to take our team to that competitive level so that it could deliver there,” coach Sajjad Mehmood told Nukta.

In the absence of head coach Stephen Constantine, Sajjad, also an AFC License A coach, has trained the side for a week at Model Town Lahore along with the goalkeeping coach Nouman Ibrahim.

Sajjad is not accompanying the side to Saudi Arabia while Nouman Ibrahim is going with the team as goalkeeping coach. Initially the PFF NC wanted to hold a full-fledged camp in Al-Ahsa but visas delay forced the authorities to hold the camp at Lahore.

The team will be able to get a few sessions before the match under Stephen who has been handling the senior side since the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

Myanmar and Afghanistan are the other teams in Pakistan’s group.

The group matches will be held on home and away basis. After meeting Syria in Al-Ahsa, Pakistan will host Myanmar on June 10 at the Jinnah Stadium Islamabad. It will be followed by their game against Afghanistan on October 9 at Islamabad. The two teams will then face off again in Afghanistan on October 14.

Pakistan will also host Syria on November 18, before concluding their schedule with an away match against Myanmar on March 31, 2026, at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon.

The winners of the group will move to the Asian Cup.

Squad:

Goal-Keepers: Yousuf Butt, Saqib Hanif, Abdul Basit, Adam Khan; Defenders: Abdullah Iqbal, Haseeb Khan, Junaid Shah, Mamoon Moosa, Mohammad Fazal, Abdul Rehman, Waqar Ihtisam; Midfielders: Alamgir Ghazi, Ali Uzair, Ali Zafar, Muhammad Umar Hayat, Rahis Nabi, Toqeer-ul-Hassan, Umair Ali, Moin Ahmed; Forwards: Fareedullah, Harun Hamid, Imran Kayani, Mckeal Abdullah, Abdul Samad, Shayak Dost and Muhammad Adeel Younas