Pakistan hampered by 3-year hiatus
Pakistan will return to international football at the senior level after a three years when they begin their campaign in the SAFF Championship in Dhaka tomorrow.
Pakistan have not played an international game since meeting Yemen in the play-offs of the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers in March 2015 due to some internal problems as well as a suspension from FIFA from October 2017 to March 2018.
Pakistan only made their return to the international stage at the Asian Games, where their Olympic squad lost to Vietnam and Japan but beat Nepal 2-1. They also had three Europe-based players.
Pakistan had a 40-day preparation camp ahead of the event and integrated 10 players from their Asian Games squad into the senior team for the SAFF Championship after skipping the previous edition held in Kerala in 2015.
"Of course, when you are stopped for three years, you lose many things. We are now trying to rebuild the team and trying to do our best in the SAFF Championship," said Pakistan's Brazilian coach Jose Antonio Nogueira at the Bangabandhu National Stadium before his team's first training session after arriving in Dhaka on Saturday night.
"During the gap, the players didn't do anything. Now we are trying to recover and hope to repay something. There were domestic competitions in the last three years," said the 52-year-old who took charge in March.
"All four teams from Group A want to qualify for the next round but in my opinion, Bangladesh are favourites," said the former Al-Ahli coach.
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