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.
