Pakistan showed immense grit and determination before they eventually fell to a narrow 2-1 loss to Russia in their clash of the UEFA Under-16 Development Tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan on Monday.
Mohammad Essa’s men fell behind early but levelled the scores in the second half through Shahraz Khan after good work by Danish Masih, only to be reduced to 10 men after which Russia capitalised.
“It was a much-improved performance after [the 4-1 loss against] Kazakhstan,” said head coach Essa. “We fought for every ball, we went for every tackle. It is a result that gives us a lot of heart heading into our last game of the tournament against Azerbaijan.”
Essa had vowed that Pakistan will give Russia a tough time and his charges did not disappoint even after their opponents took a seventh-minute lead through Aleksandr Braginets’ low drive from the right.
The Pakistan defence held firm after that with goalkeeper Naveedullah proving to be a commanding presence in the box to keep the Russians at bay.
At the other end, Muhammad Hanzala had Pakistan’s best chance close to the end of the first half when he superbly skipped past a player, only to see his effort parried away by Russia goalkeeper Arseniy Rihelgof.
Pakistan came back with renewed purpose in the second half and equalised in the 50th minute when Danish won a superb header which Rihelgof could only pull back into the path of an onrushing Shahraz.
With the goal giving them much-needed momentum, Pakistan poured forward only for midfielder Essa being shown a second yellow card in the 72nd, a minute after which eventually Russia bagged the clincher through Maksim Ivanov.
The scoreline at the end might not have been in Pakistan’s favour but for the players, who almost went toe-to-toe with much-fancied Russia, it was a massive learning opportunity.
“We are thankful that the Pakistan Football Federation under president Syed Mohsen Gilani has given us this opportunity to play in a UEFA tournament and ultimately against Russia,” said Danish. “This will significantly help us grow further.”
Goalscorer Shahraz had similar views. “We are very grateful for this opportunity, and at such a high level. We wanted to put up a solid performance against Russia and we were almost there today.”