Umar Nawaz’s early strike and a late goal by Harun Hamid gave Pakistan a 2-0 victory over Afghanistan and sent Nolberto Solano’s men through to the final of the Diamond Jubilee International Football Tournament in the Maldives on Sunday, with the win sealing top spot for the Shaheens in the round-robin stage of the four-nation event.
This is the first time that Pakistan, who have won football gold at the South Asian Games four times, have reached the final of a stand-alone football tournament since the 1962 Merdeka Cup, where they ended runners-up to Indonesia, said a press release.
Their last tournament triumph dates to a decade prior to that when they were joint-winners of the Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament alongside India.
Coming off a 3-0 victory against the Maldives – the national team’s first win after 961 days, Pakistan needed just a draw to book their place in the final. A dream start was delivered by Umar in the fifth minute; the striker side-footing home first-time an enticing low cross from fellow frontman Shayek Dost on the left.
The goal helped Pakistan stamp their authority in the opening exchanges with Afghanistan, coaches by former Pakistan coach Jose Antonio Nogueira, finding it difficult to penetrate deep into the opposition half.
With Shayek, Umar and Otis Khan being willing runners up top, and Haris Zeb and Fazal providing width, there remained ever-present danger for Afghanistan.
Otis sent Easah Suliman clear with a delightful diagonal past the half-hour mark but the defender shot over the bar from outside the box. Afghanistan had a chance to level in first-half injury time when skipper Omid Popalzay struck the bar with a free-kick and it saw Pakistan go into the interval with the lead.
Afghanistan needed to win to be absolutely sure of reaching the final and they came at Pakistan at the start of the second half but it was Nolberto Solano’s men who came closest to scoring when Shayek’s delightful dink on the hour mark sent Ali Agha free but the midfielder shot wide with just the goalkeeper to beat.
At the other end, the Afghans had a chance when Omid Mosawi headed wide.
Clearcut chances were few and far between as the clock ticked on until Harun Hamid scored with a rasping drive after being sent through by Adil Nabi in the first minute of injury time to send Pakistan into the title clash against either Afghanistan or Bangladesh on June 10.