Pakistan street child team stormed through to the final of the Norway Cup 2023 after defeating Bremnes 2-0 in the last four stage on Friday in Oslo.
Abid Ali and Abdullah were the goal scorers for the Men in Green in the semi-finals. Pakistan registered their seventh consecutive win in the tournament and have not lost a single game. They scored a total of 28 goals and conceded just two in the tournament so far.
Pakistan is now just one step away from glory and fulfilling the dream they came close to in Doha last year after losing the final of the Street Child World Cup.
Earlier today in the quarter-final, Pakistan beat Sandviken 2-0 and secured their place in the semis. Both goals were scored by Faisal for the winning side.
Pakistan beat Trsyil FK 4-0 in the pre-quarter-final on Thursday (August 3) to secure their place in the next round.
The Ambassador of Pakistan to Norway, Saadia Altaf Qazi, also met the Pakistan team on Tuesday (August 1). She lauded the team’s performance in the tournament, so far, on this occasion.
Pakistan is participating in the Norway Cup under the banner of Muslim Hands, a charity organization, and thus is playing under the name of Muslim Hands FC.
A total of 2,350 teams and about 30,000 players are participating in the tournament across different competitions.
It must be noted here that Pakistan team finished runners-up in the Street Child World Cup in Doha last year. They remained unbeaten throughout the tournament but lost the final against Egypt on penalties (4-3).
They were also the runners-up in the previous edition in Russia (2018), meanwhile, in Brazil (2014) they finished third.
Pakistan’s squad
Tufail Shinwari (c), Saud Ahmed, Asad Nasir, Abid Ali, Faisal Ahmad, Mohammad Ali, Ahmad Raza, Abdul Wahab, Shahmir, Sahil Gull, Mohammad Adeel, Abdullah, Ubaid Ullah, Ali Asif.
