Iraq axe national coach at eleventh hour

Baghdad - Iraq have axed their national team coach just three months before the start of the Asian Cup.

Akram Ahmed Salman was "released from his responsibilities", according to a statement from the Iraqi Football Association.

The Iraqi FA accepted the recommendation of a fact-finding committee, which conducted a two-month investigation into the failure of the team at the 18th Gulf Cup held in January, the Asian Football Confederation's Web site reported.

The Iraqis lost to Saudi Arabia in the final pool game and exited the tournament, which was won by hosts United Arab Emirates.

Current Olympic side coach Yahya Alwan is favourite to take over the reins and lead the team to the July 7-29 Asian Cup, co-hosted by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysian and Vietnam.
Iraq are grouped with Thailand, Australia and Oman. (Writing by Ossian Shine in Singapore)

Retire No. 10 jersey in honor of Daei, says Qal�e-Noii

TEHRAN (the-afc.com) � Iran�s national football team coach Amir Qal�e-Noii believes the No. 10 jersey, worn with distinction by former skipper Ali Daei over the years, should be retired in honor of the legendary striker�s contributions. Speaking at a press conference, Qal�e-Noii said, �Daei was one of my teammates in national team and I have really not decided who deserves to wear that jersey (No. 10). But if the (Iran) Football Federation regulations allow me, I would like to retire it. His (Daei�s) was a legendary era in Iranian football.�

SAIPA player-coach Daei, 38 and the first man to hit a century of international goals, is yet to announce his retirement from the international game but has not been considered by Qal�e-Noii for the national team after a poor performance in last year�s FIFA World Cup. When asked about national team�s preparations for the July 7-29 AFC Asian Cup 2007, Qal�e-Noii said, �We are trying to arrange some friendly matches but nothing is confirmed as of yet.� �We have a special plan for the AFC Asian Cup but this alone will not guarantee success. It is better to take the 2006 World Cup as an example. That is football.�

Qal�e-Noii took pains to assure that he was trying to strike a balance between both the right and left flanks of national team. �Mehdi Mahdavikia, Hossein Ka�bi and Javad Kazemian have made the right flank very strong but now we need to counterbalance it by strengthening the left flank. Fereydun Zandi, Alireza Nikbakht-Vahedi, Sattar Zare� and Mohsen Youssefi are the candidates I am banking on to do this.�

Iran have been drawn in Group C with co-hosts Malaysia, China, and Uzbekistan.

Hammam backs Asian clubs to compete with Europe in transfer market

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam is convinced the region's biggest clubs will soon be able to compete with Europe for the world's top talent.

"If clubs in Europe will pay $50 million for their players, we will do the same," Hammam told Reuters. "We just have to raise the standard and players will come. My dream is that we are as competitive as Europe in standard and revenue. I'm certain this will happen."

Hammam accused European clubs of simply recruiting Asian players to get a foothold in lucrative Far Eastern markets.

However, he said Asian sides might soon be doing the same thing.

"They don't recruit Asian players in the same way they do Africans. They're trying to create stars and get a share of their markets. This is the case with most of our players in Europe," he said. "But we can take from the markets in Europe. They can take from us, but we will take from them also."

ARNOLD PLANS TO BUILD BRIDGES

Australia coach Graham Arnold and team manager Gary Moretti will fly to England this week to discuss the availability of players for July's Asian Cup.

Arnold and Moretti have planned a series of meetings with domestic club managers across Europe, including Everton's David Moyes, Middlesbrough's Gareth Southgate, Liverpool's Rafa Benitez and Blackburn chief Mark Hughes.

Everton's Tim Cahill, Middlesbrough trio Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer and Brad Jones, Liverpool midfielder Harry Kewell and Blackburn's Brett Emerton top Arnold's list of high-profile players.

Australia will make their Asian Cup debut after switching to Asian Football Confederation from the Oceania Football Confederation at the start of the 2006.

"All the players are dead keen and up for the Asian Cup but it's about communicating that with the managers," Arnold told The Daily Telegraph.

"We need to communicate what the Asian Cup's about because this is not only new to us but new to all our players and their clubs and the players will be missing from their clubs for six weeks during a crucial part of the pre-season.

"We'll detail our training program so hopefully they'll be happy and relaxed that the players return fit and ready for the start of the season.

"It's something we've wanted to do for a while and it's important to start building relationships with the managers because we may need to talk in future about releasing them for World Cup qualifiers."

Arnold and Moretti will also fly to Germany and Switzerland after several days in England to meet with Nurnberg manager Hans Meyer and FC Basel supremo Christian Gross.

Arnold is confident of securing the services of the majority of his squad despite fitness concerns over World Cup stars Cahill, Moore, Kewell and Kennedy.

"There may be a few hiccups but I'm positive we can get most of the squad," he added.

"There could be a few players that have an off-season transfer but, even if they do, they have indicated that they want to come.

"One thing I can't foresee is transfers, and those discussions may come at a later date, but from the players' point of view it's quite positive.

"This is an extremely motivated group. They've never won anything as a nation at any level and they want to go to the Asian Cup and do well.

"At this moment we have four injury concerns with Tim, Harry, Moorey and Josh - they've either had limited playing time or been out for extended periods so we'll see how they go in the next few weeks."

Asian soccer can rival Europe, AFC chief says

MACAU (Reuters) - Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam has big plans for Asian soccer, although he admitted they might sound a bit ambitious.

After years of mediocrity the Asian game is finally changing and the continent of 3.6 billion people has the passion and the economic clout to go head-to-head in the future with the English, Spanish and Italian leagues, Hammam said.

If he gets his way, top European clubs will have to fight it out with Asian teams to secure multi-million dollar signings.

"If clubs in Europe will pay $50 million for their players, we will do the same," Hammam told Reuters in an interview on an aeroplane en route to China, where he is launching a development programme to create urban soccer leagues in dozens of the country's sprawling cities.

"We just have to raise the standard and players will come. My dream is that we are as competitive as Europe in standard and revenue. I'm certain this will happen."

Asia's 18 professional leagues vary greatly, with teams in Japan, Iran, China and Australia sometimes playing before crowds of up to 50,000, although clubs in many of the smaller leagues offer basic salaries and attract small crowds.

The 57-year-old Qatari, who last month won a second term as AFC president, said boosting revenue would be key to the long-term success of the Asian game.

COMMERCIAL REVENUE

He said the AFC would use commercial revenue to bring organised soccer to tens of millions of rural people and develop players and coaches in some of the world's poorest countries.

"We have to change the mentality and accept that professional football has to be organised like a business," Hammam said. "It is an entertainment industry. Revenue is necessary, it is our top priority.

"Here we have to replace amateurs with professionals. All of the people dealing with football must be this way."

Hammam cited record attendances this year at the Asian Champions League and an unprecedented demand for tickets for July's Asian Cup as a sign that Asia's love of soccer goes beyond the European game.

"How do we know if it's improving? Just see how many people are watching us. More and more sponsors and telecasts mean we're going in the right direction.

"The money is here. The talent of our players exists. We are not missing any element of this success," added Hammam, who was president of top Qatari side Al Rayyan at just 20 years old.

Hammam said the likes of Park Ji-sung of Manchester United and Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura were good role models for Asians, although he accused European clubs of simply recruiting Asian players to get a foothold in lucrative Far Eastern markets.

However, he said Asian sides might soon be doing the same thing.

"They don't recruit Asian players in the same way they do Africans. They're trying to create stars and get a share of their markets. This is the case with most of our players in Europe," he said.

"But we can take from the markets in Europe. They can take from us, but we will take from them also."

Japanese fans told to behave in Shanghai

Japanese football fans in China for the Uruwa Reds Asian club soccer game have been told not to wear club strips or wave the national flag.

The Japanese consulate has asked that fans resist booing during the Asian Champions League game with Shanghai Shenhua.

Japanese officials fear a repetition of the violence which erupted after Japan's victory over China in the 2004 Asian Cup final in Beijing.

RP football rises to 169th position

Philippine football vaulted to a 13-year high position of 169 in the latest rankings released by the International Football Federation Wednesday.

The Philippines, which is skipping the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, actually jumped 10 places from its previous position last month, even without playing a single international match from February until mid-April. Johnny Romualdez, the Philippine Football Federation president, said the FIFA rankings are based on the results of the national team the past four years.

"The poor results in the past four years are dropped off and the better recent performances have been given more weight in the rankings," Romualdez explained.

The new ranking has pushed the Philippines to No. 8 in the Southeast Asian region, behind Thailand (119), Singapore (124), Vietnam (140), Indonesia (148), Myanmar (154), Malaysia (154) and Laos (165). In ninth position is Cambodia (170), followed by Brunei (173) and Timor Leste (199). The last time the Philippines reached the No. 169 rank was in November 1994. A month later, the country dropped two places at 171 that was only matched 12 years later in 2006.

A scoreless draw with Myanmar in the Southeast Asian Football Championships in January has so far been the best result for the Philippines this year, after registering a second-place finish in the ASEAN Championship Qualifiers in Bacolod City in November 2006. *CPT

Manchester United to play at Malaysia in July

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Manchester United will play a friendly soccer match in Malaysia on July 27, the Football Association of Malaysia said Wednesday.

The match is a government and private sector initiative in conjunction with "Visit Malaysia Year 2007," association deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.

United will take on a yet to be determined Malaysian invitational team, selected by the government and made up of club and international Malaysian players.

Tengku Abdullah denied the match would undermine attendance at Asian Cup pool games to be staged in Malaysia — one of the tournament's co-hosts — during July.

The likelihood of the match was originally raised in September last year after Manchester United signed a deal to support tourism in this Southeast Asian country.

Asian football to rival Europe

Mohamed bin Hammam, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president, believes the game in Asia is finally changing, and has big plans for Asian football, with the continent of 3.6 billion people having the passion and the economic power to go head-to-head in the future with the English, Spanish and Italian leagues.
The Qatari, who was elected unopposed to a second term as AFC president last month, said boosting revenue would be key to the long-term success of the Asian game, and if he gets his way, top European clubs will have to fight it out with Asian teams to secure multi-million dollar signings.
"If clubs in Europe will pay $50 million for their players, we will do the same," Hammam told Reuters in an interview en route to China, where he is launching a development program to create urban football leagues in dozens of the country's sprawling cities.
"We just have to raise the standard and players will come.
"My dream is that we are as competitive as Europe in standard and revenue. I'm certain this will happen."
Asia's 18 professional football leagues vary greatly, with teams in Japan, Iran, China and Australia sometimes playing before crowds of up to 50,000, while clubs in many of the smaller leagues offer basic salaries and attract small crowds.
Hammam said the AFC would use commercial revenue to bring organised football to tens of millions of rural people and develop players and coaches in some of the world's poorest countries.

"We have to change the mentality and accept that professional football has to be organised like a business," Hammam said.

"It is an entertainment industry. Revenue is necessary, it is our top priority.

"Here we have to replace amateurs with professionals. All of the people dealing with football must be this way."

Crowds flocking to football

The 57 year-old cited record attendances at this year's Asian Champions League and an unprecedented demand for tickets for July's Asian Cup as a sign that Asia's love of football goes beyond the European game.

"How do we know if it's improving? Just see how many people are watching us. More and more sponsors and telecasts mean we're going in the right direction.

"The money is here. The talent of our players exists. We are not missing any element of this success," added Hammam, who was president of top Qatari side Al Rayyan at just 20 years old.

Give and take

Hammam said the likes of Park Ji-sung of Manchester United and Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura were good role models for Asians, although he accused European clubs of simply recruiting Asian players to get a foothold in lucrative Far Eastern markets.

However, he said Asian sides might soon be doing the same thing.

"They don't recruit Asian players in the same way they do Africans. They're trying to create stars and get a share of their markets. This is the case with most of our players in Europe," Hammam said.

"But we can take from the markets in Europe.

"They can take from us, but we will take from them also."

The AFC's flagship event - the Asian Cup, will be held this year in Malaysian, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam from July 7 to 29.

Australian midfielder Cahill eyes Asia Cup return

SYDNEY: Injured Everton and Australia midfielder Tim Cahill is targeting a return to action at the Asian Cup finals in July, but admits it is still touch and go.

Cahill, a key member of the Socceroos, fractured a metatarsal in his left foot against Sheffield United in early March and has been on the sidelines ever since.

But he said the bone was on the mend and he was desperate to return.

“I will be doing all I can to be fit and available for selection,” Cahill told the Everton website.

“The competition starts in July so it is going to be very tricky on the schedule but the Asian Cup is a massive competition.

“It is something we have got a realistic chance of being in the top contenders to win it, so from Australia'a perspective, following the World Cup successes, we need our strongest team possible.”

Having started just 19 times for Everton this season, Cahill admits he can't wait to get back on the pitch.

“I am gagging to get back into football,” said the former Millwall player.

“It is just frustrating because I couldn't do anything about my first injury and then I came back and had a freak accident.”

Australia are in a Bangkok-based pool that also includes Thailand, Oman and Iraq for the Asian Cup, with their first game against Oman on July 8.

They play warm-up matches against Uruguay on June 2 and Singapore on June 30. – AFP

Australians may attract scouts through Arsenal

Remzi Dermele and Salah Musa are two young immigrant residents of the inner districts of Australia's second largest city, Melbourne, who have been selected in a 30-strong Australian contingent travelling to the 17th annual Arsenal International Soccer Festival at the Royal Holloway University in Surrey, England, from 28 July to 5 August. According to Larry Schwartz of The Age, the event "will attract talent scouts from Britain and elsewhere in Europe."

Remzi and Salah are among almost 600 refugees from the horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia) who now live in Carlton's public housing. This is a community in which a study by a Monash University researcher found family life had been disrupted in war and refugee camps. Women had often come to Australia without their husbands, who had died, were lost in Africa or otherwise separated from their families. Many of the youngsters' education has been disrupted in their troubled countries. But there is an obvious camaraderie and a shared passion for the "world game".

Here soccer is everything, says Mia Bromley. She is a program director with the YMCA's Carlton Parkville Youth Services, which runs a drop-in centre at the flats and soccer teams for younger players. The service is helping Remzi and Salah raise the almost $7000 they will each need for air fares, accommodation and other costs on their trip. Both teenagers are also selling raffle tickets to help raise the money.

"We don't want to create a false hope," says organiser Jim Tsolakis, managing director of the new Arsenal Soccer Schools Australia which was set up late last year and is one of 14 such schools around the world, including in Egypt, Portugal, Hong Kong and Malaysia. They are visited by Arsenal coaches and use training programs devised and monitored by the club.

Mr Tsolakis hopes that some of the Australians who play at the Arsenal event will be invited to train with the club's youth teams. "Who knows? It certainly will help them with that opportunity but also with their opportunities back home as the A-League gets better and, if we can develop the players, there's Asia," he says. "There's a huge market."