Moment of truth for Pak as World Cup qualifiers begin

KARACHI: The moment of truth for Pakistan hockey arrives in Lille, France, on Saturday when the seventh-ranked team faces the 26th-ranked Italy at the Metropole Club in the first encounter of the World Cup qualifiers.

The national hockey team is featuring in the six-nation tournament as a consequence of losing the Asia Cup final by 0-1 to Korea in May.

The qualifiers, beginning Saturday, will conclude on Nov 8 and Pakistan have to beat all the other participating teams in order to play in the 2010 World Cup to be played in New Delhi, India, from Feb 28 to March 13.

They play their second match against 23rd-ranked Russia (Nov 1), third against 17th-ranked France (Nov 3), fourth against 14th-ranked Japan (Nov 5) and fifth against 22nd-ranked Poland (Nov 7) while the final will be played on the concluding day (Nov 8).

The team that has met several challenges in the form of dropping an important member due to fears of doping, injuries to players and visa hassles since the start of the preparatory camp for this tournament, finally reached its destination on Oct 25 to be informed by the event’s organisers that the pitch where the matches were to be played would not be ready until Oct 29.

Therefore, they had to carry out their training sessions as well as play the practice games with local clubs at an alternate venue.

Playing friendly matches with the competing teams was out anyway due to shortage of time.

The team had earlier planned to leave for Europe on Sept 24 to play three Tests with hosts France on the 27th, 28th and 30th that were to be followed by two Tests against Poland (Oct 3 and 4) and three against Belgium (Oct 6, 7 and 8).

But unable to acquire Schengen visas enabling them to freely tour through Europe, on time, they had to reschedule their programme twice. Later, they dropped Belgium to play in Poland and France alone and then it was decided that they fly directly to France.

Pakistan have never missed playing in a hockey World Cup since its inaugural tournament in Spain in 1971. Winning that title, they went on to win three more — in Argentina in 1978, in India in 1982 and in Australia in 1994.

Zeeshan Ashraf’s men may be in a do-or-die situation at the moment but they are also the favourites, according to the experts of the game.

Flying Horse Samiullah believes that the national side has a much better chance against the other competing teams who are all much lower down in world rankings.

‘There should be nothing stopping the team from winning the event provided the players play responsibly,’ he said.

Chief Coach Shahid Ali Khan said before leaving for France that they better win or they return as zeroes instead of heroes. ‘We have practiced very hard and are hoping for the best results. The boys, too, are in first-class shape. But winning is all that matters otherwise everything adds up to zero,’ he had announced.

Meanwhile, showing confidence in his boys, skipper and fullback Zeeshan Ashraf had said that they still shouldn’t underestimate the other seemingly-mediocre sides.

The team is a good combination of new talent and experience. Centre-half Wasim Ahmed, forward Rehan Butt, and goalkeeper Salman Akbar joined the team directly in France while the remaining 15 left from Lahore last Sunday.

Besides the World Cup qualifiers in France, two other qualifiers are also scheduled to take place — in New Zealand (Nov 7-15) featuring China, Malaysia, Austria, Scotland and Wales besides the hosts, and in Argentina (Nov 17-22) featuring Belgium, Ireland, USA, Czech Republic and Italy besides the hosts.

The nine teams that have already qualified for the World Cup comprise hosts India, Canada (Pan American Cup champions), Korea (Asia Cup champions), Australia (Oceania Cup champions), South Africa (Africa Cup champions), England (Euro Hockey Nations’ champions), Germany (silver medallist of Euro Hockey Nations’ Cup), Netherlands (bronze medallist of Euro Hockey Nations’ Cup) and Spain (fourth-ranked team of Euro Hockey Nations’ Cup).

Team

Goalkeepers: Salman Akbar and Nasir Ahmad.

Fullbacks: Zeeshan Ashraf (captain), Sohail Abbas and Mohammad Imran.

Halves: Mohammad Irfan, Wasim Ahmad, Sajjad Anwar, Fareed Ahmad and Mohammad Rashid.

Forwards: Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Haseem Khan, Abbas Haider, Akhtar Ali, Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool and Mohammad Zubair.