Pakistan women's football team underprepared for friendly game against Saudi Arabia

It will be interesting to see how the Pakistan women football team will tackle Saudi Arabia in an international friendly in Doha on Saturday (tomorrow) bearing in mind lack of preparation time before the tie.

The team is in Doha to take on Saudi Arabia at the Aspire Academy ground. The game will start at 9pm PST.

Pakistan coach Adeel Rizki said they did not get enough time for training.

“We only have two training sessions on December 5 and 6 to prepare for this match. And only so much we can do with the time that has been given to us,” Rizki told Nukta.

“All players at the camp are injury free at the moment and have arrived in good spirits,” he was quick to add.

“The last time we played was against Bangladesh in the SAFF Championship which was approximately two months ago,” Rizki said.

“We are also missing some key players and we will test some young players in this match. However, we will still go out there, compete and make Pakistan proud,” Rizki said.

Former international Ehsanullah will be serving as usual as goalkeeper coach.

Pakistan will be missing US-based defender Kayla Siddiqui who is not available due to personal reasons, a Pakistan team source told Nukta from Doha.

The team source was confident that Pakistan will beat Saudi Arabia.

“We are confident to beat them. We have played some good matches against them in the past and this time win will be on our side,” the source said.

The match will be held on the grassy pitch of the Aspire Academy, according to the source.

“The pitch is grassy and lush green and I think it will be a good match. We have not seen Saudi Arabia as training time for both teams is different. We are excited to do well against them,” the source said.

In November last year the PFF signed an MoU with the Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF) to foster ties for the promotion and development of football in both nations.

The PFF NC chairman Haroon Malik had signed that MoU with the SAFF chief Yasser Al-Misehal in Saudi Arabia.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Nisha Ashraf, Arzoo, Jennah Farooki; Defenders: Maria Khan (captain), Sara Khan, Mishal Bhatti, Sophia Qureshi, Mehreen Gul, Fatima Nasir, Nizalia Siddiqi; Midfielders: Suha Hirani, Rameen Fareed, Amina Hanif, Sanah Mehdi and Alia Sadiq; Forwards: Zahmena Malik, Isra Khan, Nadia Khan, Anmol Hira, Eman Mustafa