After 4-0 Thrashing, Pakistan Football Head Coach Blames Late Arrival Of Indian Visa, Immigration Problems In Mumbai Behind Poor Show

Sunil Chhetri scored three goals as Team India beat a listless and tired Pakistan 4-0 in their opening game of SAFF Championship on Wednesday. Pakistan coach now blames arrival of late visa behind loss.

Source: Twitter

Pakistan's men's football team were no match to India as they lost 0-4 to a dominant Blue Tigers in the Wednesday match, getting off to a horrible start in the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru. Sunil Chhetri showed his class once again, scoring a hat-trick of goals. Udanta Singh finished the match with one goal to make it 4-0 in favour of India. After the loss, Pakistan coach Torben Witajewski has made a big statement, saying the late arrival of the team was a big reason why Pakistan could not display their best on the day. Not to forget, Pakistani goal-keeper Saqib Hanif did a big blunder when he failed to kick away the ball and fell on his back, expriencing a brain-fade moment. That error on Hanif's part allowed Chhetri to score an easy goal. Hanif's brain-fade could be due to the lack of sleep.

Pakistan football team arrived in Bengaluru just in time, on the day of the match. They got their Indian visas as late as Tuesday and landed in Mumbai via Muaritius at 1 am on Wednesday. The 32-man contingent then did not get an flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru and had to travel in batches of two. One batch boarded the 4 am flight to Bengaluru while the other took another flgiht only by 9.15 am. The full Pakistan squad was in Benagluru only by 1 pm. The match was to start at 7.30 pm IST. 

Pakistan coach feels that it was tough for the players to give their best with such tight scheduling and visa as well as immigration issues. "The problem about the travel was we received the visa very late and a lot of problems in Mumbai at the airport with the immigration. So it was tough for the guys. The last group arrived at half past one in the hotel today (Wednesday). After 16 hours, right. So this is not easy, it's very tough but you have to cope with the situation. You cannot change it,” said the Pakistan team's coach, as per Hindustan Times.

Team Update all the way from Bangalore! __#wearepakistanfootball #dilsayfootball #shaheens pic.twitter.com/RvA4tJAkOQ — Pakistan Football Federation (@TheRealPFF) June 21, 2023

The coach said that the Pakistani team also had many issues in Mauritius, before adding that more time ahead of the match would have helped them prepare better for the big match against India.

"For sure, we couldn't change the situation, the problem is the visa. So we had a lot of problems in Mauritius. So it was not easy, but we cannot change. But if we had more time the performance would be different. If you travel through the night, the players cannot sleep. We arrived today at half past one, it's not good preparation for a match. We cannot expect a lot from the guys," he said.