BANGALORE
\nThe rest and recovery made no difference. Once again, Pakistan lost. Once again, the margin of defeat was 4-0.
\nThree days after losing to India in their SAFF Championship opener \u2014 a game Pakistan played barely six hours after arriving in Bangalore, Shehzad Anwar\u2019s men produced another dismal performance to go down to Kuwait at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday.
\nThe defeat all but ended Pakistan\u2019s chances of advancing from Group \u2018A\u2019 and their fate was sealed when India beat Nepal 2-0 in the day\u2019s other match.
\n\u201cOur team definitely needs more experience [at this level],\u201d Pakistan\u2019s interim assistant coach Torben Witajewski told reporters at a news conference after the match.
\n\u201cWe need more matches as a team,\u201d added the German with Pakistan having several foreign-based players in the squad.
\nKuwait, one of two invited teams for the tournament, had opened with a 3-1 win over Nepal and they joined India in the semi-finals after an utterly dominant performance against Pakistan.
\nJust like in their opening match, Pakistan conceded the first goal in the 10th minute; Hasan Alanezi converting a cross from Mobarak Alfaneeni.
\nSeven minutes later, Kuwait doubled the lead through Alfaneeni. Ali Matar gained possession and sent a delightful through-ball to Alfaneeni, whose shot gave goalkeeper Yousuf Butt no chance and nestled into the top corner.
\nPakistan\u2019s midfield was once again found wanting with the England-based Rahis Nabi and Harun Hamid failing to exert any sort of control and it was a matter of time before Kuwait got their third.
\nThis time, it was a Pakistan mistake with Alfaneeni being gifted the ball in first-half stoppage time and he dinked the ball over Yousuf.
\nThe game was all over and Kuwait added to Pakistan\u2019s misery by getting their fourth in the 69th with Eid Alrashidi embarking on a solo run before finding the back of the net.
\nPakistan will now try to salvage some pride when they face Nepal in their final group game on Tuesday with both teams looking to sign off with a victory.
\nBut it won\u2019t be easy for the men in green, who have now lost seven games on the trot since the FIFA suspension on Pakistan was lifted in June last year.
\nTheir first match since returning to the international fold was a 1-0 reverse against Nepal and the Nepalese produced a decent performance against India, holding the hosts goalless in the first half before allowing two in the space of nine minutes.
\nSunil Chhetri, who scored a hat-trick against Pakistan, got the opener in the 61st minute when he turned in a cut-back from Mahesh Singh.
\nMahesh got the second in the 70th after a shot from Chhetri was deflected onto the crossbar before falling to him to seal the result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BANGALORE The rest and recovery made no difference. Once again, Pakistan lost. Once again, the margin of defeat was 4-0. Three days after losing to India in their SAFF Championship opener \u2014 a game Pakistan played barely six hours after arriving in Bangalore, Shehzad Anwar\u2019s men produced another dismal performance to go down to Kuwait […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-340095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n