THE deficiencies have been exposed. Our national football team losing all six matches they played in June underscores the need for a drastic turnaround. Pakistan have never won a FIFA World Cup qualifier. The next opportunity to break that unenviable record comes in October when Pakistan enter the first round of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 tournament. Performances in the Four Nations Series and SAFF Championship, though, haven’t raised hopes. Pakistan lost to hosts Mauritius, Kenya and Djibouti in the Four Nations Series to finish last in the round-robin tournament before becoming the worst team at the SAFF Championship in India. A 4-0 loss to arch-rivals India in their Group ‘A’ opener was attributed to the team’s delayed arrival in Bangalore — Pakistan reached the host city just six hours before the game. Insipid performances in a 4-0 hammering against Kuwait and 1-0 loss to Nepal followed. For all the hype created, with the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee parading the fact that it had secured the paperwork to make some foreign-based players eligible to feature for Pakistan, the team flattered to deceive. There was little leadership on the pitch; the players ran around clueless. The FIFA-appointed PFF NC, having seen its mandate extended until March next year, faces a race against time to sort things out ahead of the World Cup qualifier.

Advancing into the second round of World Cup qualifiers guarantees Pakistan more competitive action — something that the team hasn’t seen frequently in the past several years due to turmoil at the PFF. That has hindered development; the lack of a proper domestic structure hasn’t helped either. There are also questions regarding coach Shehzad Anwar, who lost all eight matches since the FIFA suspension on Pakistan was lifted last year. An inquiry is the need of the hour to address the team’s failings. Otherwise, all signs point to history repeating itself when the World Cup qualifiers come around.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2023