Pakistan Football team ends tour of Malaysia on a winning note

Pakistan’s national football team ended their tour of Malaysia on a winning note with a 2-0 victory over top-tier club FELDA United in a friendly match.

FELDA decided not to play their foreign stars including Serbian Nikolas Raspopovic and Argentina’s Nicolas Velez and gave their youngsters a run as they prepare for the upcoming Malaysian Super League season, it was nevertheless a morale-boosting win for Pakistan who played their first matches during this tour since the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June last year.

After a 2-2 draw against second-division UKM FC on Wednesday, Pakistan managed to score a goal in either half against FELDA to secure a much needed win.

Pakistan took the lead in the 16th minute when youngster Waheed managed to score from a pass by Ali Khan and Nisar solidified Pakistan's authority with another goal in the 75th minute.

Star striker Kaleemullah, after marking his return with a goal in the previous game, saw a goal ruled out in the dying minutes.

“It was a very good tour for the team overall. The players were waiting for an opportunity to play for a long time and this gave them very good exposure", Pakistan head-coach Tariq Lutfi said. 

Following the appointment of the Normalisation Committee, both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have stressed that they are committed to putting Pakistan football “back on track” and the week-long tour of Malaysia saw the national team train at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.