He may not have intended to annoy the world, but Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh's 9/11 analogy will go down in bad taste ahead of the high-voltage Indo-Pak semi-final at the FIH Men's Champions Trophy on Saturday.
The Pakistan team arrived for practice at 12 noon but left a little earlier for Friday namaz, but not before their coach made a controversial statement.
"We will adopt a 9/11 strategy," Sheikh said, immediately realising a blunder he had committed by relating a game of hockey to the brutal attack on the World Trade Centre in New York by Al Qaeda.
"Don't misunderstand my statement. I am not talking about the 9/11 you might be thinking. It's the plan we are likely to adopt, i.e., attacking with 9 players and defending with all 11," he added.
While Sheikh's clarification made little sense, it has unnecessarily added a political flavour while there is no room for it in sports. Probably he got a touch too excited with Pakistan's unexpected presence in the semis against India.
"We came here with a target to be in the top four, and we have achieved that," said Sheikh about his team that had lost all three pool games before winning the all-important quarterfinal on Thursday.
"We hardly had any international games under our belt before coming here. So there was no pressure on us. But India will certainly be under pressure as they played well at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and then in Australia. So they will be carrying the winning expectations in front of a full house in the stadium," the coach said.
"But this is good for hockey in Asia. India and Pakistan playing in the Champions Trophy final will do a world of good to hockey in the region."
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