Looks like the final line-up for the Nehru Cup will consist of hosts India, Cameroon, Kenya, Maldives and Syria, though doubts still remain about Syria with all the trouble that is currently going on over there. Philippines apparently decided to back out and I fully understand their decision; the tournament is less than a month away and the AIFF are taking their sweet time and being their customary indecisive selves. The Azkals cannot afford to stall any longer with the ASEAN Cup coming up. As a Maldivian, I am delighted that we are getting this opportunity to play against the likes of Cameroon, but we are probably going to look horribly out of our depths. Another tournament where we go out with all guns blazing, get hammered and return home without learning anything beckons.
I looked at the AIFF website just the other day hoping for some kind of news on the Nehru Cup. All I could find was a starting date of the tournament, no team names, nothing. Disappointing, and they want it to be a great tournament which it could be, just lack organisation.
Kenya is playing Jamaica away on 25. August so I dont think they can be two places... Friendly is on fifa.com and also confirmed by Jamaica FA twitter today
Dont worry. If I know AIFF then they will tell us 45 minutes into the first match of the Nehru Cup who the teams are.
Is that after the majorty of us have struggled to translate the name into English!!!! I half expect to see a bunch of Africans turning up, half telling us they represent someone like Niger, the other half telling is Zimbabwe, all depends which nation they are told to say on any given day.
Exactly. They are going to do what American TV stations do when getting commentators... Go outside the building they work at and pick random people who have an English accent. Does not matter if they dont know football. But in this case it will just be random black people, does not matter if they dont know how to play. Heck just gather a few and say they play for Cameroon and then watch India win 3-0 and everyone thinks that India is better than I think 54th ranked Cameroon.
Pakistan Premier League kick's off today. 16 teams compete in a season that last's four months. Once again the league will mkae teams play every 3/4 days to rush in the campaign. Now, can anyone tell me why the league season is always rushed? Wouldn't it make more sence if they made the 16 team league smaller, say something like 10 teams and play just 18 games? For the record, Karachi is represented by 6 teams, 4 of which will use the same ground as their home base but play games elsewhere when fixtures clash. Lahore has 3 sides with Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited being one of the sides representing them....and they wonder why the league isn't a success with the population of Pakistan.
Who says that it is there fault though. Do they have enough money to rent the stadiums? Can they afford travel? The Pakistani clubs are still very much amateur (dont matter what they say) and that is where the PFF have to take blame. They dont care about at least trying to be professional. Also why the f*** are there 16 teams! I hate when leagues think that they can get better by adding more teams (like India who should go down to 10-12 and not 16-18). Either way it is what it is sadly. Its sad for me to see the I-League 2nd Division 3 months long but Pakistans number 1 football tournament is 4 months. That really kicks the I-League 2nd Division out of the way.
SAFF Women's Championship Group A Team MP W D L GF GA +/- PTS India Women Team 3 3 0 0 19 0 19 9 Sri Lanka Women Team 2 1 0 1 4 5 -1 3 Bangladesh Women Team 2 1 0 1 1 3 -2 3 Bhutan Women Team 3 0 0 3 0 16 -16 0
Group B Team MP W D L GF GA +/- PTS Nepal Women Team 2 2 0 0 13 0 13 6 Afghanistan Women Team 2 1 1 0 5 1 4 4 Maldives Women Team 2 0 1 1 1 6 -5 1 Pakistan Women Team 2 0 0 2 0 12 -12 0
Can someone give some insight into maldives football?its league,club budget,player salaries,stadium&attendences
FIFA advises PFF to restructure League http://www.footballpakistan.com/2012/10/fifa-advises-pff-to-restructure-league/
Did the PFF really need FIFA to tell them that they needed a better league. You and I know very well that what they currently have is unacceptable. However if they can not even make a proper cricket league than I struggle to think that they can make a proper football league.
"An U23 national team friendly tournament organized by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports, entitled "Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy", will kick-off on December 2 in Jayathilake Sports Complex, Nawalapitiya, Sri Lanka. The fixtures for Maldives U23 are as follows: December 2 - Sri Lanka U23 vs Maldives U23 December 4 - Pakistan U23 vs Maldives U23 December 6 - Bangladesh U23 vs Maldives U23 The Maldives U23 team will be lead by Maldives national team's Hungarian coach, István Urbányi. The team started practices on Monday with a 25 player squad. A similar U23 national team friendly tournament is planned to be held in Maldives next year." Got this from Maldives National Football Team Facebook page.
Wow. Hoping that this is the start of some sort of SAFF U23 Tournament. (Yes, I know we have the South Asian games).
Confusion over India's bid for AFC Challenge Cup http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...or-AFC-Challenge-Cup/articleshow/17199785.cms
It seems that the Pakistan Football Federation has taken the cue from other countries and has been heavily recruiting from abroad ever since their new Serbian Coach took over the helm. They have invited 7 foreign based players for their friendly against Singapore on November 19. Pakistan squad : Jaffar Khan of Army, Saqib Hanif, Samar Ishaq, Ahsan Ullah, Saddam Hussain, Muhammad Adil, Kaleem Ullah, Kamran Khan and Zia-us-Salam of Khan Research Laboratory (KRL), Muhammad Ahmed of Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Jahangir and Muhammad Rasool of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), Faisal Iqbal of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Muhammad Mujahid of Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Jadeed Khan Pathan of Afghan FC, Naveed Ahmed of Navy, Muhammad Hameed and Saeed Ahmed of Muslim FC Chaman. The foreign contingent called up includes Yousaf Ejaz Butt (Boldklubberne Glostrup Albertslund, Denmark), Hassan Bashir (Hellerup IK, Denmark), Mohammed Ali (BK Avatra, Denmark), Zeeshan �Zesh� Rehman (Kitchee SC, Hong Kong), Adnan Farooq Ahmed (Nelson FC, England), Shabir Khan (Worcester City FC, England), and Omar Malik (FK T�nsberg, Norway) http://www.footballpakistan.com/2012/11/pak-squad-for-singapore-tour-camp-announced/ And there is more to come from what I understand. If they continue to do this, they can give the other countries in the SAFF including India, a run for their money. This will be Pakistan's first international match since December of last year in the SAFF Cup.
What... Nelson FC... Worcester City.... BK Avata. Ya, Pakistan still have a shit squad. Yes, they can complete with Sri Lanka and Maldives more but India? No. Indian players and the I-League are better than the North West Counties Football League.
I was merely speculating that if they continue this trend that they will become more competitive. For instance, they are eyeing this player who participated in the UEFA Europa League recently http://www.footballpakistan.com/201...-origin-lights-up-europa-league/#comment-8730 Anyway you can gauge how much they have improved by how well they do against Singapore in a few days as didn't India played them recently as well. BTW, I noticed that there are plenty of Indian origin players in Europe as well. It is too bad that your laws are so strict when it comes to citizenship.
It seems Etzaz has dreams of Norway. Already capped for them at the U21 level and he is only 19. I doubt the PFF can get him. Meanwhile Omar Mallik is a 2nd Division player in Norway. I commend them for the work in finding these players but in the short term I dont see anything happening. Also you cant only work with foreigners... domestic players as well. Where are they. The Pakistan Premier League is still only four months long. Also I dont look at the India vs Singapore match as a indication of our strength. If you think that was a good Indian team then you are wrong. Sunil Chhetri came in with only 1 game in 2 months for Sporting Portugal. Robin Singh was put in the squad and he only had around 3 goals last season. Also Mangi was in our central defense and he is shit now. Cant play to save his life. And where were Jeje Lalpekhlua, Lalrindika, Pradeep Mohanraj, Shilton D'Silva etc.
I agree about the Pakistani domestic league situation. It needs a drastic overhaul. As for the Indian national team, you know more about that than I do, so I will gracefully defer to your better judgement on that score. Nevertheless, I still think Pakistan's game against Singapore would be a good gauge of how much they have improved. Personally I think Singapore's experience will just be too much for Pakistan. Nevertheless it would be a great experience for them, their first game in nearly a year.
Pakistan only lost to Singapore 0-1 via an own goal. Not bad against a much higher ranked side. It looks the foreign based players are making a difference.
It was Singapore U23 but yes it was an okay result for a team that has not played in a year. BTW What ever happened to that professional league Pakistan had in 2010.