Pakistan on Wednesday beat hosts Indonesia 2-0 in their second group match in the qualifiers for the 2026 Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup, making a comeback from their defeat in the first group match last week.
The national squad was drawn in Group ‘D’ of the qualifiers in Jakarta alongside Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan. Pakistan lost their first match of the campaign to Chinese Taipei 8-0 on June 29.
Hailing today’s victory as a “milestone in women’s football”, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) wrote in an X post, “Pakistan defeats 95th-ranked Indonesia 2-0. Power, passion, and purpose on full display.”
Nadia Khan opened up the scoring eight minutes into the match, before Suha Hirani doubled the lead in the 19th minute by scoring a penalty.
“The onus was on Indonesia to find their way back, but despite introducing Isa, Helsya Maeisyaroh and Marsela Yuliana Awi into the mix, [Coach] Satoru Mochizuki’s charges were unable to overturn the deficit,” said an AFC press release.
Pakistan face Kyrgyzstan in the final game of the group on July 5 (Saturday).
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Jennah Farooki, Nisha Ashraf, Zeeyana Jivraj; Defenders: Aliya Sadiq, Layla Banaras, Maria Khan (captain), Nizalia Siddiqui, Sophia Qureshi; Midfielders: Amina Hanif, Azwa Chaudhry, Marsha Malik, Rameen Fareed, Sanah Mehdi, Suha Hirani; Forwards: Anmol Hira, Aqsa Mushtaq, Isra Khan, Mariam Mahmood, Nadia Khan, Zehmena Malik, Zulfia Nazir.
