Can Pakistan qualify for the 2022 World Cup?

Can Pakistan qualify for the 2022 World Cup?

Pakistani Football has been on the rise in recent years. While the National team hasn’t been able to exactly wow audiences, the support of the game has grown by a large margin and many expected things to get better in the future.

How the National team triumphed twice in the SAFF games remains a sort of miracle on the pitch. Despite all odds, the likes of Muhammad Essa and Jaffar Khan rose to prominence and guided the Green-kickers to victory.

That remains our only silverware acquired at senior level during the decade, but other notable performances against the likes of Japan, UAE and Singapore have also been quite commendable.

Aside from the odd display, the National team have never really looked like a side which could qualify for a major tournament and this year was big testament to that.

Under the guidance of the lethargic Tariq Lutfi, Pakistan bowed out of the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and suffered a hefty 3-0 defeat against Bangladesh in the World Cup qualifiers. Now the only remaining option for a trophy is the SAFF Cup but despite
the appointment of Zaviša Milosavljevi? it is a tough ask.

Qualifying for the World Cup is an arduous battle in itself and seeing Pakistan at the biggest spectacle of them all, would be a dream come true for many followers of the beautiful game.

 However the current system is big hurdle in reaching that goal. Pakistan’s top tier competition is played on lamentable pitches, salaries are far below average and the lack of a professional approach by the PFF has really hampered our progress.

The youth is the sole avenue which can still claim that Pakistan stand a chance of being represented in Qatar, but in order to achieve that they must groomed immediately and maybe 10 years down the road, we will see a drastic improvement in our performances.

However as of now, the current hierarchy is far too negligible to guide us to the World Cup and unless things change quickly, Pakistan playing in the FIFA 2022 World Cup will remain a dream even for the most optimistic of supporters.

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Posted by Shahrukh Sohail on Nov 26 2011. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry