Pakistan brings international football home after a bitter power struggle

When Pakistan face Cambodia in the second leg of their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday in Islamabad, the memories will come flooding back for Adnan Ahmed. It is almost 16 years since the Burnley-born former Huddersfield and Tranmere winger, who came through Manchester United’s academy, made his international debut in a 7-0 defeat by Iraq in Lahore.

“I had mixed emotions because it was my first game for Pakistan,” Ahmed says. “It was a bittersweet experience to finally represent the country but the result obviously wasn’t what we wanted. There were quite a few of us who had never played [together] before so we were still getting used to each other and it was a bit of a nightmare really.

“By the second leg we had developed more of an understanding and managed to hold out for a 0-0 draw against the team that had just won the Asian Cup. That was the first draw Pakistan had ever managed at a World Cup qualifier so although we had nothing to show for it, it was a significant step.”

A bitter power struggle that has since blighted football in Pakistan means that was also the last time that the country played a World Cup qualifier on home soil. But the team secured a surprise 0-0 draw in the first leg against Cambodia last Friday under their new manager, Stephen Constantine, to end a 12-match losing streak. There is optimism that they could make history by reaching the second qualifying round, comprising nine four-team groups.

“It’s well within their grasp so hopefully they players can keep their nerve in the pressurised situation,” says Ahmed, who won 27 caps and runs the One Stop Sports Management agency with the former Wigan and West Brom striker Nathan Ellington. “If they can go one step further it would be an unbelievable