Bengaluru
Kuwait and Pakistan will clash in their second Group A match of the 2023 SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Saturday.
Both teams have had contrasting starts to their SAFF Championship campaign. While Kuwait registered a 3-1 victory against Nepal in its opening match, Pakistan succumbed to a 4-0 loss against arch-rival India.
On paper, it looks like yet another mismatch as the 143rd-ranked Kuwait will fancy its chances against the 195th-ranked Pakistan. However, head coach Rui Bento will be cautious.
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The Al-Azraq (blue wave) were majorly dominant against Nepal. The Gorkhalis lacked creative ideas and struggled to play out from the back. However, there were instances when the Kuwait backline was caught out of position, which invited counter-attacks from Nepal, most of them led by Anjan Bista, who also scored Nepal’s only goal in the defeat.
Against Pakistan, Rui Bento will expect his team to push forward and crowd the final third, having able attackers in Shabaib Al-Khaldi and Mohammad Abdullah. But he will instruct his team to be wary of being under the threat of counter-attacks, similar to the Nepal game.
Pakistan’s Otis Khan, who was one of the brighter sparks in his team’s 4-0 drubbing against India, showed glimpses of his raw pace and ball control down the left channel. If Kuwait is not careful, then Pakistan would need just one transition from defence to attack to send Khan through on a counter-attack.
Better prepared
Pakistan assistant coach Torben Witajewski, after the India match, acknowledged that the Blue Tigers were the better team on the night, but said that it was not easy for his team to play after being on the road for close to 17 hours. On top of that, 14 players of the Pakistan team reached Bengaluru approximately seven hours before kick-off.
Asked if that had an impact on the match, Witajewski said, “Definitely… we don’t want to give excuses. India was the better team today. But it was not easy for our boys.”
“We know what we have to do and what our players can do. I am sure after some rest and a proper training session; the team will be better prepared.”
Sloppy errors
Pakistan conceded its first goal against India in the sloppiest way possible. Goalkeeper Saqib Hanif, in a bid to clear the ball, kicked it straight to Blue Tigers skipper Sunil Chhetri. With an empty net in front of him, Chhetri slotted the ball in without fuss. The momentum completely shifted after the first goal. Chhetri went to score the next two from spot-kicks, with Udanta Singh scoring the fourth goal.
Sloppy errors like this have been synonymous with the Pakistan football team in the last few matches. In all probability, Shahzad Anwar’s side will be under the cosh against a potent Kuwait attack. It shouldn’t gift Kuwait any goals as it did to India.
“I think that’s the way it has gone for us, in the Four-Nations Cup in Mauritius as well. It is the little mistakes. In the Djibouti match we scored, and then ten seconds later, we conceded a sloppy goal. These mistakes don’t help us at all. We have to build from a good platform and play better from the back,” Pakistan’s Otis Khan said after the loss against India.
Kuwait, currently on three points, will climb to the top of Group A with six points for the time being, if it wins against Pakistan. Bento’s side can even move top with a draw as it will reach four points, one more than the current group-topper India.
Pakistan is currently bottom of Group A. Shahzad Anwar’s men can climb to third momentarily with a win or a draw, sending Nepal to the bottom.
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