The Pakistan football team has slipped out of the top 200 in FIFA ranking after back-to-back-to-back defeats at the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship.
Previously ranked 195, team Pakistan is no longer in the top 200 after disappointing performances in the four-nation cup in Mauritius and SAFF Championship in India.
Pakistan fell to rank 201 after a deduction of 9.05 points following back-to-back tournament defeats.
In the Mauritius four-nation Cup, Pakistan lost three consecutive games against Maldives, Mauritius and Kenya. Team Green conceded six goals in three games and scored a total of zero goals.
Meanwhile, in the SAFF Championship, Pakistan, once again, failed to win a single game.
Starting with a four-goal defeat against arch-rivals India, Men in Green were handed out another humiliation as the semi-finalists team Kuwait scored four past the Pakistani goalkeeper Yousuf Butt.
However, in their last group-stage game, Pakistan managed to defend a bit well and only conceded one goal in a dead rubber against Nepal.
Team Green ended their journey at the bottom of the points table in Group A, without scoring a single goal in three matches while they conceded nine.
India’s captain Sunil Chhetri is the top scorer of the tournament with five goals. He scored three against Pakistan alone.
Even after the inclusion of international players like Otis Khan and Easah Suliman, both of whom played professional football in England, Pakistan’s disappointing display in international matches couldn’t stop.
Suliman was once the captain of the U-19 England side, becoming the first British-Asian to captain an England side at any level.
The 25-year-old started every game in England’s victorious campaign at the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, where he also scored the opening goal in the final against Portugal.
The Pakistani also had the privilege to share the field with Arsenal’s goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, and two European champions Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) and Mason Mount (Chelsea).
Now it has to be seen when we will see a change in the fate of the Pakistan football team knowing they just started playing international matches now after Fifa lifted their ban after five years.
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.