Pakistan football team is set to play the Asian Cup Finalists Jordan on March 21 at the Jinnah Stadium, but the hurdles continue to come in the way of Pakistan’s national team as their training camp has been delayed due to Pakistan Football Federation’s (PFF) financial issues.
According to sources, the PFF Normalisation Committee wanted to schedule the training camp on March 1, but due to the financial constraints of the federation, the camp has been delayed.
One source from the PFF reiterated the fact that installing the floodlights is not under their jurisdiction and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) will have to fulfill their duty if they want the betterment of the Pakistan football team.
The source from the PFF NC also confirmed that if the PSB installs the floodlights as per its promise, the timing of the match can be changed and can be held in the evening after the Iftaar timings during Ramadan.
Currently, the match will be held at 2 pm on the 21st of March and that can be challenging to attract a crowd in the afternoon during the holy month.
Previously, the PFF had highlighted that the installation of floodlights and meeting the FIFA standards for the stadium has posed difficulty with the current setup of the Pakistan Sports Board as their coordination has been minimal.
In late January, PFF announced that they were trying to seek alternatives to host Jordan outside of Pakistan, but in the last week of February, the PFF announced that the match will be held at Jinnah Stadium without the floodlights.
Pakistan will play the away leg on March 26, once they host the Asian Cup Finalists at home on March 21 at the Jinnah Stadium. An early training camp will be crucial for the national team against an opposition that has the reputation of an Asian Giant.
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