Pakistan look to bounce back in ASEAN Cup

Pakistan must regroup quickly when they face the Philippines in their second Group B match at the FIFA ASEAN Cup on Tuesday, after a 4-0 defeat by Thailand in their historic opening game. Nolberto Solano's side showed defensive discipline early on against Thailand, but were eventually undone by a better-ranked opponent. Teerasak Poeiphimai scored a hat-trick, and Jude-Bell Soonsup added the other goal. For 30 minutes, Pakistan held firm. Mohibullah made an important interception, Ali Raza produced a timely sliding tackle, and goalkeeper Yousuf Butt made a fine save. But the resistance broke when Poeiphimai reacted quickest to a rebound, and captain Abdullah Iqbal's misplaced pass led to a second goal soon after. Changes at half-time brought greater attacking intent. Shayek Dost, Hayyan Khattak and Alamgir Ghazi came on, and full-backs Mohammad Fazal and Haris Ali Zeb pushed forward. Abdul Samad Arshad went close with a shot that flashed just wide, but Thailand struck again on the hour and Poeiphimai completed his treble late on. Pakistan goalkeeper Yousuf Butt, who lives in Denmark, believes there are positives to take from the game. "This is another level; they are about 100 ranks forward," he said. "We were not feeling pressure, but there is a difference in quality as you can see, they were converting half chances." He added: "The only thing I'm satisfied with is that we were not being outplayed. We are not satisfied with a 4-0 loss, and we have to be better at phase two, phase three, and more." Pakistan's focus now turns to sharpening their finishing and their defensive concentration. "We have to capitalise on those small margins, like the ones they were scoring from," said Butt. "We have to be more active on all parts of the field." The goalkeeper also has reason to feel at home. Pakistan have played the Philippines in the Philippines before, and Butt played football there last year. "It is going to be familiar," he said. "Insha Allah, I hope we can put in a very good performance and take those steps to take our football to the next level." With qualification hopes at stake, Pakistan will hope the lessons of Saturday can be turned into something tangible against the Philippines.