Pakistan, June 8 -- Umar Nawaz's early strike and a late goal by Harun Hamid gave Pakistan a 2-0 victory over Afghanistan and sent Nolberto Solano's men through to the final of the Diamond Jubilee International Football Tournament in the Maldives on Sunday, with the win sealing top spot for the Shaheens in the round-robin stage of the four-nation event.

This is the first time that Pakistan, who have won football gold at the South Asian Games four times, have reached the final of a stand-alone football tournament since the 1962 Merdeka Cup, where they ended runners-up to Indonesia, said a press release.

Their last tournament triumph dates to a decade prior to that when they were joint-winners of the Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament...