Karachi: The organizing committee of the Pakistan Football Federation has discussed the possibility of an early start for Pakistan’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against regional giants Saudi Arabia at a neutral venue.
PFF-NC earlier announced that the match will start at 8:30 PM when PSB installed new lights at Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad. However, an independent inspection of the lighting revealed inconsistent lighting at various points in the arena.
The report also shows a low luxury of about two points.
While PSB promised to build four light towers around the goal post, PFF has started working on an alternative option.
According to sources, one option is to start at 5 p.m.
The source said that the PFF NC officials have discussed the idea and if the minor issues are not resolved, the Pakistan vs Saudi Arabia match in the FIFA World Cup Qualifier is likely to start at 5:00 PM.
A source said that since the PFF sunset time on June 6 is estimated at 7:21 p.m., a 5 o’clock start would allow the game to finish by 7 p.m.
The last two home games against Jordan and Tajikistan start at 2 p.m. However, the sweltering heat will now allow a 2pm start.
Pakistan will take on Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan on June 6 and June 11 respectively in the second qualifying round. The match against Saudi Arabia will be played at the Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad, and the match against Tajikistan will be played at the Central Stadium in Dushanbe.
Pakistan are at the bottom of Group G as they have lost all four matches they have played so far.
Jordan then beat Pakistan 3-0 in Islamabad, while the Falcons were also beaten 7-0 at the Amman International Stadium in a Ramadan match.
