Pakistan Goalkeeper Yusuf Sees Bangladesh Crowd as 'Pressure' Ahead of SAFF Semifinal

With the group stage over, the SAFF Championship has reached the last-four stage. Bangladesh have advanced to the semifinals playing like favourites. As the match is on home soil, the galleries are expected to be packed with supporters of the red and green. Pakistan goalkeeper Yusuf Ahmed Butt, whose team faces Bangladesh in the semifinal, sees those very supporters as 'pressure.'

Pakistan held their final training session on the morning before the semifinal. Five new players have joined their squad, which the Pakistan camp views positively, and they expect a great match against Bangladesh.

Speaking to the media after training on Friday, Pakistan goalkeeper Yusuf Butt said, 'Our preparation has been good. Five new boys have come into the team who can get on the pitch and help the side. But I will say again, everything is a team matter, nothing individual. We will give our best as a team against Bangladesh and hope that will be enough.'

Recalling past encounters between the two sides, Butt said, 'Bangladesh and Pakistan always play some good matches. In 2018 too, they were quite lucky with a goal scored into our own net. That's fine, that's football. So this time it's our turn.'

On the pressure from the crowd, Butt said, 'We know there will be good pressure from the Bangladesh supporters. But personally I am happy that VAR will be there to help. I think it will be a big help for us, because a lot of pressure is created when playing in front of the home team and its supporters.'

Asked whether there would be an India-Pakistan final, Butt said, 'I hope so. I really want to play India again, because the previous match was very, very bad for us. I would say that out of our last 12-13 matches, that was perhaps our worst performance. So I hope we play them again in the final. But right now we want to take it one match at a time — Bangladesh are in front of us now.'

On Bangladesh's key players, Butt said, 'I am not thinking about Hamza or Shamit Shome. I am thinking about playing against my good friend Jamal Bhuyan. They are undoubtedly good players, but we also have very good players.'

On the discussion surrounding Hamza Choudhury, he added, 'There is a lot of talk about Hamza Choudhury. We have Abdullah Iqbal, we have Isa Suliman, we have Adil Nabi, we have Abdul Arshad. Yes, they are great players, but brother, I guarantee you, we will also have great players.'