ISLAMABAD
\nPakistan have always ended up on the losing side against Jordan and while coach Stephen Constantine said his team will play for a win, he warned against high expectations from his charges.
\nThe second round of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been a baptism of fire for Constantine\u2019s men; bringing them back to earth after their historic victory against Cambodia in the first round.
\nConstantine has repeatedly stated that Pakistan\u2019s first appearance in the second round of World Cup qualifying is merely a chance for his players to rub shoulders against Asia\u2019s elite footballing nations. Ahead of Thursday\u2019s Group \u2018G\u2019 clash against Jordan, he was reiterating the same.
\n\u201cWe will try our best to win against a very difficult team,\u201d Constantine, whose team have lost 4-0 to Saudi Arabia and 6-1 to Tajikistan in their opening two matches, told reporters at the Jinnah Stadium on Wednesday, before reminding once again what he hopes to achieve in the second round.
\n\u201cWe are trying to build a new team, a new philosophy,\u201d he said. \u201cMy focus is to get Pakistan to the AFC Asian Cup.\u201d
\nWhile the top two finishers in the group advance to the third round of qualifying for the World Cup, the bottom two teams will go into the third round of qualifying for the 2027 Asian Cup.
\n\u201cIf we continue to play matches against the top teams in Asia and through constant training camps and good coaching, we can qualify for the Asian Cup,\u201d said Constantine. \u201dIt will not happen overnight and we will need continuous hard work to achieve that.\u201d
\nThe 61-year-old stated he was trying to replicate in Pakistan what he did in the past with India.
\n\u201cIn four years, I was able to help India qualify for the Asian Cup and we can do the same here,\u201d he added. \u201cFor that, I need more games for the team and preparation camps.\u201d
\nConstantine defended his approach, saying he wasn\u2019t a \u201cdefeatist but a realist\u201d. \u201cWe need to revamp our domestic structure and once again I\u2019ll say we need to have the league running if we are to take the next step.\u201d
\nPakistan have looked to bank on the rich resource of their diaspora players to help them take the next step but the Englishman said it wasn\u2019t the solution. \u201cWe started [the game] against Tajikistan with seven diaspora players but still got beat,\u201d he stated.
\nThe games against Jordan \u2014 Pakistan play against them away in five days\u2019 time \u2014 were supposed to mark debuts for midfielders Adil Nabi and Etzaz Hussain, based in Cyprus and Norway respectively. But the duo sent out a statement earlier this week, saying they don\u2019t want to play under the current management.
\nConstantine stated that he had a \u201clist of 50 diaspora players who have expressed a desire to play for Pakistan but there is a big difference between wanting to play and being here\u201d.
\n\u201cI\u2019ll take the diaspora players I have here because they have taken us this far,\u201d he said.
\nJordan are seeking maximum points against Pakistan to revive their hopes of qualifying for the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada after getting just one point from their opening two games.
\nAnd they come into the double-header against Pakistan on a high after a stunning run at this year\u2019s Asian Cup, where they reached the final.
\nConstantine praised the work done by his Jordan counterpart Hussein Ammouta but hoped \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t continue their good performances against Pakistan\u201d.
\nMoroccan Ammouta, meanwhile, said his side were looking to build upon their run at the Asian Cup.
\n\u201cEvery match has its circumstances; we hope that we can continue the Asian Cup success,\u201d he told reporters ahead of his players\u2019 first training session at the Jinnah Stadium.
\n\u201cOur confidence has increased after our run at the Asian Cup and we will try to give the best we can. But it will not be an easy game as we need to win.\u201d
\nJordan reached Islamabad on Wednesday night and Ammouta said their delayed arrival was because \u201cwe were waiting for our foreign-based players to join us\u201d.
\nHe said Pakistan needed to consistently strive to achieve success at international level.
\n\u201cPakistan team is strategically different to the teams we played [against at the Asian Cup] in Qatar and Pakistan will need to constantly improve for the next several years to reach the top level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Pakistan have always ended up on the losing side against Jordan and while coach Stephen Constantine said his team will play for a win, he warned against high expectations from his charges. The second round of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been a baptism of fire for Constantine\u2019s men; bringing them …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":62355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62361,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62351\/revisions\/62361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}