ISLAMABAD: The prolonged visa bureaucratic jamboree over, the AFC Asian Cup qualifier between Pakistan and Afghanistan will go ahead as scheduled. Afghanistan, however, will take to the pitch here at the Jinnah Stadium on Thursday without having held a single training session in the host country.
In terms of rest and preparation, it is advantage Pakistan but it remains to be seen how Nolberto Solano’s men make it count against a side that only landed at the Islamabad airport on Wednesday evening as they search for their first victory in qualifying for the 2027 continental showpiece on Saudi Arabia.
Afghanistan are also winless and pointless after their opening two Group ‘E’ matches and head coach Vincenzo Alberto Annese will hope his players can rebound after a long wait to set foot in Pakistan due to a visa issue that till Tuesday had raised the spectre of the match being cancelled.
Till Tuesday night, the Afghan team was waiting for clearance in Dubai after the Afghanistan Football Federation had bungled the visa application process, stating that the players and officials would appear for their biometric verification at the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul.
With most Afghanistan players based abroad, the AFF was unable to ensure their presence at the Pakistan Embassy and eventually it went back and forth with Pakistan Football Federation on how its diaspora players could enter Pakistan for the game.
A breakthrough was eventually reached when Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi intervened and ensured that the Afghanistan delegation will be granted visa on arrival.
“We are thankful to the Government of Pakistan for their support and coordination in facilitating the arrival of the Afghanistan team,” PFF president Mohsen Gilani was quoted as saying in a PFF press release.
“I would also like to acknowledge and extend my sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Pakistan Sports Board and the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) for their full cooperation.”
Over 10 members of the Afghanistan team, along with Italian head coach Annese, landed on Wednesday evening while another batch was due to arrive at midnight. Three players, who got their visas in Kabul, are making a road trip from Peshawar.
Those circumstances give Pakistan an edge with Solano having held a short training camp for his side ahead of the fixture, although the team could only call upon a handful of diaspora players due to the funding issue that has impacted the recently-elected PFF.
It is Solano’s first game in-charge of the senior team since he took over as head coach in August and the Peruvian was hopeful his side could get a good result against the Afghans.
“The players have been working really hard in training and we should hope for the best,” he told a news conference earlier on Wednesday. “We are well prepared and we expect a good match.”
Thursday’s fixture is the first of a double-header between the two sides with Afghanistan hosting Pakistan in the return game in Kuwait on Tuesday.
Syria and Myanmar, the two teams with maximum points in the group, will also meet each other twice in the next six days. Only the group winner will advance to the Asian Cup finals.
