Pakistan’s women’s national football team has earned a spot in the news lately, and it’s for all the right reasons. After not only getting to play an international match after a massive 8-year drought, the team also managed to score big. Their recent match against Maldives ended with a seven to zero score, with four of these goals scored by British Pakistani footballer Nadia Khan.
The game picked up at the 40th minute, when the Pakistani team scored their first goal, and their winning streak continued till the end of their last Group A match of the SAFF Women’s Championship at the Dasharath Rangasala Stadium.
Speaking to the press post-match, Nadia Khan shared what their winning strategy turned out to be. “We had different strategies but in this game we knew that we have the ability to attack more but I still believe it’s the togetherness and belief in each individual players and trusting each other as well that pushed us through,” she said.
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Nasir Ismail, former Pakistan assistant coach, also talked about his belief in the team. “I had earlier told you that this women’s lot had the potential to leave an impact in the tournament but it was handled by the inexperienced coaching panel that denied the team to progress to the knock-out stage,” he said to The News.
“These women can go a long way provided they are handled with experienced coaches. Look today they were left to play an attacking game and they did the job. In their first two matches against India and Bangladesh they were tied and the coach looked in a defensive mood which hurt us,” he added.
He also advocated for future opportunities like these for the female athletes and teams of the country. “The authorities in future should provide more exposure to these women and age-group teams as we have a good nursery,” he said.
