USA Second Division - Recent Developments.

16/02/2011 by leo.

The USSF has now given the NASL provisional second division status for 2011.

The league will still have to meet certain commitments, mainly to do with the ownership of the teams for 2011, in order to keep this status.

 Surprisingly, it has then been announced that NASL clubs will not be included in the 2011 Open Cup. Apparently, it is too late in the procedure to change plans and include the five USA based NASL clubs in the draw.

The Open Cup will start in June with 40 clubs, 8 from the MLS, all 11 USA based clubs in USL-Pro, 9 from the USL’s Premier Development League, 3 from the National Premier Soccer League, 8 further clubs fron the USASA, and one more from “club soccer”. Each competition holds its own qualification process.

Posted in The American Game | 1 Comment »

Eleven Grounds in Eleven Countries.

07/02/2011 by leo.

A bit of a game here.

What follows is a photo from last new ground visited in each of the last eleven countries I have visited. This starts with a ground in England, but apart from this, there are no captions, leaving those who wish the chance to guess both countries and clubs for each ground. All photos were taken in the 2010-11 season.

The quiz will be played on-line on the nonleague matters forum at http://nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum/gforum.cgi?post=302515;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

No longer a game - as the answers are included.

1. Globe Arena, Morecambe FC, England

2. Stade de Bielmont, RCS Verviers, Belgium

3. Neuer Tivoli, Alemannia Aachen, Germany

4. Cae Sling, Penmaenmawr Phoenix, Wales

5. Jassem bin Hamad Stadium, Al-Sadd, Qatar

6. Estadio Carlos Belmonte, Albacete Balompie, Spain

7. Stade du Schlossberg, US Forbach, France

8. Stadionul Zimbru, Zimbru Chisinau, Moldova

9. Toyota Park, Chicago Fire, USA

10. Estadio Juan Raman Lobriel, Puerto Rico Islanders, Puerto Rico

11. Swangard Stadium, Vancouver Whitecaps, Canada

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USA: The Search for a Second Division.

06/02/2011 by leo.

Last summer, I returned to the USA, for my first visit in 11 years. It was a good trip with a dozen games watched over a two week period – and although I focussed mainly on MLs games with the USA itself, I visited both Canada and Puerto Rico for the first time, with matches seen in the US Open Cup, the SuperLiga, the USSF division two and even the Premier Development League. By good fortune, I even managed a fixture in the Canadian Soccer League.

Kalamazoo Outrage – Playing in the PDL – Part of the USA Step 4

This was enough to give me some insight into the structure of football in the USA. Although there is no promotion and relegation between leagues in the USA, their Football Association, the USSF defines which of the various leagues is at each of the steps 1-4. Below this, all football is amateur and organised at state level under the auspices of the US Adult Soccer Association.

The unquestioned Step 1 League in the USA is Major League Soccer (MLS). This was founded in 1996 and after a difficult time in its early years, it now seems to be an established part of the American Sporting scene. The crowd figures, at around 16,000 per game in 2010 are in line with many other major leagues across the world. The MLS is not like most other football leagues, in so far as the league is the major entity involved, while the clubs are franchised granted by the leagues. Unlike any of the European Leagues, players’ contracts are with the league, not with the clubs – and majority of the players are paid at levels fixed by the league. There are a small number of marquee players, whose salaries are above the general limits for the league, and whose pay must be generated by the clubs own profits.

With two new teams for 2011, the MLS will now have a 34 match regular season. Although its clubs will play the same 34 game home and away round robin system used in most leagues of similar size, its teams are also divided into two Conferences on a regional basis. Ten teams will then play in a knock out end of season competition for the overall title.

The system leads to some confusion. In 2010, eight teams – (exactly half the league’s compliment) entered the play offs. The top two from each conference are guaranteed a place in the play offs, while the other four places come from the “combined table”. In 2010, the consequence of this was that only two eastern teams made it to the play offs, while six of the eight westerners qualified. This was the same breakdown as selecting the top eight from the combined table, but the fifth and sixth placed teams from the West were then re-categorised as third and fourth of the east for draw convenience. This led to the “Eastern Conference Final” being played between San Jose Earthquakes and Colorado Rapids, both of which play in the Western Conference. The overall champions ended up as Colorado, who had finished 7^th in the original combined table, LA Galaxy having finished three points clear at the top, (and Western Conference Champions), lost the Western Conference title game to FC Dallas.

The final, played towards the end of November was staged at the BMO Field in Toronto.

San Jose take on DC United at the Buck Shaw Stadium. Despite playing in the Western Conference, the Earthquakes ended up playing in the Eastern Conference final

Until 2009, the second, third and some of the fourth level of USA football came under the auspices of the United Soccer Leagues, but for 2010 some of the teams tried to break away and form a new second level league of their own. This new league has been named the North American Soccer League, (NASL), deliberately chosen to evoke memories of the original NASL, which run for sixteen years from 1968, and known mainly for picking up world class star names, just prior to the retirement. Faced with two leagues, both having six clubs affiliated vying for sanction at the same level, the USSF decided not to leave the question open for one season, and instead run their own USSF Division Two including all of the 12 teams concerned. The two rival organisations were recognised in the division of the league into USL and NASL Conference. The match schedule did not reflect this though – every team played a 30 match regular season, 22 of which were made the standard double round robin, while the extra eight were on a regional, but not Conference basis.

The top eight (from a combined table) entered the end of season play offs, these were five from the USL Conference, and three from the NASL. The combined table, rather than Conference tables were used for seeding the draws, and all play offs were over two legs (with the exception that the top two seeds had to be Conference Champions and hence these two could not meet until the final). Two teams of the USA level 2 league were Canadian, while one was from was from Puerto Rico. It was in fact the Puerto Rico Islanders, who had the lowest ranking of the eight teams in the play offs, that played Carolina Railhawks in the final. Railhawks would have been fourth in an overall combined table, but were second seeds as winners of the NASL Conference. Islanders finished 5^th in the USL Conference.

A sparse crowd (1089) watches Carolina Railhawks win 2-0 at Puerto Rico Islanders in the regular season. For the same match-up in the League final, the crowd was better (6257). The Islanders won that match 2-0, and took the title with a 1-1 draw the following week.

The average attendance for the USSF Division 2 was 4449 in 2010, this is broadly comparable to the 4700 average for the previous season when the second level was an 11 club tourney entirely under the USL banner.

My 2010 trip did not allow me to see any game at the third level. This was administered by the USL and was called USL, Division 2. (In 2009, the second level was known as USL Division 1). There were only six teams in the 2010 league, and they played a 20 game season, with the top three going into a simple play off (one semi-final, one final, home advantage to higher placed team). Charleston Battery were top of the regular season table, and also won the play off final.

All of these three leagues levels appear to be full time professional, but as far as I can see none of the lower leagues are. There are two separate leagues which operate as Step 4. Both are played in regional conferences and divisions in different parts of the country, with no interaction between these until reach the play off stage.

The USL operates the Premier Development League, with 61 teams in 8 divisions (for 2010) – despite varying numbers (between 6 and 10) in the divisions, they all play 16 games in the regular season, with one exception where and 8 team division played 14 games. The top two teams from each division then enters the play offs.

Meanwhile the National Premier Soccer League had 31 teams in 5 divisions. This only played around 8-10 games for each team, with play offs at the end.

The PDL demands that most of the players are under-23. A team is allowed to name a roster of 26 players of which only 8 can be over 23, but of the four teams I saw in action, the actual numbers of older players were only around the two or three mark. Each team must also have at least three under 18’s in their roster. A large number of the clubs pick their players mainly from College Football, (the PDL season is in the main within the college summer break). A few teams have become partially professional, but because of the amateur rules of the NCAA, (the main body for college sports), those that employ professionals cannot also use college players from the “elite colleges”. They can use players from colleges that are not part of the NCAA *

Reading the NPSL’s information on-line, there does not seem to be the age limits of the PDL, but the league also operates on an amateur basis, which means that it too can utilise college players.

While the NPSL is limited to USA teams, the PDL includes several Canadian outfits, and also Bermuda Hogges.

Both the level four leagues are continuing in similar formats for 2011, although both have an increased number of franchises, and each has added a division this season.

The MLS has also continued to expand, for 2011 it will have 18 teams – still divided into two conferences, and still playing a double round robin (so 34 matches per team). A 19^th team has already been confirmed for 2012, with the probability that this will soon increase to 20.

AT the Saputo Stadium, Montreal Impact (the MLS expansion team for 2012) take on Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS 2011 expansion)

While the upper and lower reaches of the American Soccer system have not changed, except in their number of teams, the middle ranks are still full of confusion. The USSF has defined the criteria which a second division needs to adhere to. These include a minimum eight teams, spread out across different time zones, with minimum financial criteria, ownership rules and the demand that 75% of teams play in metropolitan markets with a population of at least 750,000. That final rule is enough to mean that the English Premier League (and probably every other league in Europe) is unsuitable to be a second level league in USA.

Not surprisingly the rules have come in for a level of criticism. After all, with the rules only demanding that stadiums can hold 5000, and with average crowds around 4500 last season – one would have expected that the importance is to bring in clubs that can regularly deliver this sort of average, and have facilities to suit. One city that does not have the size of population of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But it has the football club with the best average attendance in the NPSL at 4400, and the league’s highest ever (5117 when they played Rocket City United). My two viewings of football at this sort of level each had crowds of under 100. Surely the first thing the USSF should do is to sent someone down to Chattanooga to find out what is being done right, and then insist more clubs follow suit!

The USL have decided to combine their two professional divisions under the title USL-Pro. They have not applied for recognition as a level 2 league, and hence by default they are now level 3. Despite this, their officials will still believe this is the second highest league in the League, below the MLS. Actually, only one member of last season’s USSF Division 2 has joined the USL-Pro. Five of the old USL, Division 2 teams have stayed. There are nine new franchises, five of these are spread across the continent, in Orlando, New York, Dayton, Wilmington and LA, but the other four are not in the USA, but the Caribbean.

Three of these are from Puerto Rico, and played in last season in the Puerto Rico championships. Considering that a single PR club in the USSF division 2 last season failed to bring in the crowds, it is a surprise to find that there will now be four clubs from the Island playing in mainland competition.

The final member of the overseas new boys is the newly formed Antigua Barracuda. This will be the first professional football club on an island better known for cricket. The stadium used by Barracuda is known as the “Sir Vivian Richards Stadium”, and is of course sized for cricket!

The USL-Pro is divided into three conferences of five teams each. It is fair to say that it does not really have a National reach, so it has called its conferences, American (two teams in North Carolina, one in South Carolina, and one each in Florida and Virginia), National (two teams each from New York state and Pennsylvania, one from Ohio) and International (the three from Puerto Rico, Antigua and LA Blues). It is not difficult to spot that LA is the furthest of the teams from the Caribbean.

All teams will play 24 games, with the American and National conferences playing all teams in both conferences home and away, and six additional games. The International Conference teams play a double home and away round robin (16 games) with eight games (four home, four away against teams from the other conferences).

Portland Timbers take on Miami at PGE Park. The park is being updated for the MLS, and the local baseball team has been kicked off the ground

From last season’s USSF Division 2, only Rochester Rhinos has joined USL Pro. Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps move on up to the MLS, while four franchises (Austin Aztecs, St. Louis, Minnesota Thunder and Crystal Palace Baltimore) have closed down. The other five, including Puerto Rico Islanders, and Montreal Impact have joined the NASL. The new franchises are Atlanta Silverbacks, NSC Minnesota Stars and FC Edmonton. This is hardly national coverage. Minnesota and Edmonton find themselves a long way from the other sides in the league, while there is no one at all on the West Coast. Although Montreal Impact will leave at the end of the season to join the MLS, San Antonio Scorpions (from Texas) are confirmed as a new franchise for 2012, and it is expected that a renamed Baltimore team (no longer connected to Crystal Palace) will join.

The USSF provisional gave the new league its “Division 2 Sanction” last November, but they have since rescinded this, and more discussions are being held to decide whether the NASL will be at tier 2 or tier 3. If they do not get tier 2 sanction, then there will be no league at this level in the USA. In the meantime, the NASL has announced a programme giving each team 28 games (eight teams, playing home and away twice against every other team). Six out of the eight will play in the end of season play offs.

Chicago Fire take on the Mexican team, Monaracas Morelia in the SuperLiga

While the NASL and USL argue over who should run the second level of football in the USA, the most sensible answer to the question remains above this all. The answer in my mind is of course the MLS. If the MLS expands to 20 teams, then this will be the most that seriously be accommodated with each team playing all the others home and away – but it is unlikely to lead to the end of their expansionist policies. Most of the teams concerned spend a period in the lower divisions before progressing to the MLS. This helps prospective entrants to get their houses in order and to prove they can draw sufficient crowds to justify the step up.

So why should not the MLS create its own second division? Why shouldn’t the USA join in with most of the rest of the World and have at least a partial meritocracy in its football? Would Promotion and Relegation bring the walls crumbling down, or would it create a new interest in the game below the MLS?

The biggest problem would be on the financial side. The franchises have existing contracts with the NASL and USL, and as these organisations exist to make a profit not merely for the good of the game. In the short term some accommodation would have to be arrived at before a two division MLS could be considered.

In addition, the USSF document says that clubs in a division two league need to be able to put up a bond of US$750,000 to join the league. When switching to the MLS First division they have to be able to increase this funding significantly. Other considerations, such as facilities may need to be updated to allow a club to progress. In most European countries, a club has to pass licensing criteria in order to progress up the leagues, or if they wish to enter European competition. As an MLS second division would include teams that may not yet be up to playing at the top level, it too would need the equivalent of licensing to structure the promotion process.

In England, relegation is such a serious blow to a club that a “parachute” payment has to be made to clubs going down. This is due to the sudden loss of income from TV and sponsorship contracts that occurs when a club loses its position, while players’ contracts are not tied to the division, and still have to be paid after relegation. Strangely enough, this would be less of a problem in the MLS, as the majority of players’ contracts are held not by the clubs, but centrally by the league.

FIFA statute (number 19, paragraph 1) demands that the composition of leagues should primarily be on the basis of merit. The rule was brought in after several cases around Europe where clubs were effectively “franchised” and moved from one city to another. In particular, the extremely high profile transfer of the 1988 English cup winners Wimbledon to Milton Keynes created a high degree of publicity. At the time of introduction, FIFA promised that the rule would not be used against those countries which used franchising instead of promotion and relegation, and they have not even taken action against recent breaches of this rule, such as in Belgium, and Thailand.

Still, when the vote came from the 2022 World Cup venue, countries using the franchise system (USA and Australia) were overlooked in favour of technically inferior bid. The reasons behind the FIFA decision will be complex, but with Blatter have criticised the USA’s system in public, this cannot have helped. At the least, should a two division structure be on the table, it will not harm a USA bid for the 2026 World Cup

There are enough professional football teams in USA and Canada for a two division structure to make sense. Promotion and relegation will create a new degree of excitement. A reason to get behind struggling clubs as the season comes to a close, and hopes of a play-off position are long gone. A single body to govern and run both divisions would surely be the best way to ensure the stability of this structure.

* I have since been informed that I may not be correct in this assumption, and that NCAA players - so long as they are not paid themselves - can line up in semi-professional teams

Posted in The American Game | 1 Comment »

Qatar: Ticketing Controversy overshadows the Final

04/02/2011 by leo.

As the 2011 Asian Cup draws to its conclusion, I wonder what we have learnt from it, how this will affect the future of Asian Football, and also what this may mean for the World Cup when it comes to this tiny Emirate, the smallest country to stage the tournament.

But first, the quarter finals. In my last blog on the subject, I felt I could not see beyond group winners Japan and Uzbekistan winning the first pair, whereas the second set of matches would be much closer. In this I was correct, although none of the quartet provided a team with an easy route through.

The first match saw almost 20,000 at Al Gharafa as the hosts Qatar met Group B winners Japan. For Qatar, it would be their foreign born stars that held the key, and Sorria, born in Uruguay gave them an early lead, from an apparently offside position.

Shinji Kagawa restored parity soon afterwards, getting his head to a loose ball after Shinji Okazaki had tried to lob the home keeper.

With 27 minutes to play, Japan’s Moshida picked up his second yellow card, and from the resultant free kick, Fabio Cesar was to bundle Qatar back into the lead.

Japan would not take this lying down, and Kagawa again was on hand to level the scores, and then to claim the assist as Inaho scored the winner in the final minute.

An Earlier stop at AL Gharafa

At Khalifa, Uzbekistan reward for winning the group was a match against Jordan. Scoreless at the break, the Uzbeks then took a two goal lead within five minutes of the restart – both scored by Ulugbek Bakayev. Ten minutes later Bashir Bani Yaseen pulled one back for Jordan, but this was not to be enough and Uzbekistan went through.

Friday is a non working day in Qatar, so crowds were down again for the Saturday games. Only 7000 for South Korea and Iran, an intriguing contest between two teams meeting at this stage for the fifth successive time. It was unlikely there would be much between the teams and so it proved, with the only goal scored by Korean substitute Bit Garam Yoon midway through extra time.

A slightly larger crowd was at Al Sadd to see the Australians take on holder Iraq, and they had to wait even longer for a goal, the only one coming two minutes from the end of extra time, with Harry Kewell heading in a cross from Matt McKay.

And so on to the salient questions. Can Qatar hold a World Cup, and what will it be like for players and spectators? We can leave out the question of whether the cup should have been awarded here, as that is now in the past, and cannot be changed. I have no doubt that some journalists are still looking for the answers to why the Cup will be in Qatar.

Qatar can build things, so I feel safe in saying the stadiums will be built, and they will be of sufficient standard and numbers for the World Cup. More hotels and apartment buildings will be built, and there will be accommodation for those who can afford to stay. The infrastructure will improve. By 2022 there will be more roads, (but just as many traffic jams), and hopefully a rail and metro system as well.

Mall Life 1– inside the City Centre Mall

Everything will look good from a distance, but it may not stand too close scrutiny. On our trip we found much unfinished paving, even around finished projects, while more of the paving of the famous Corniche is broken than unbroken. In may other places we found that projects while ostensibly complete, had little faults that needed attention. Our hotel was a case in point. Failures of management and supervision – the inability to fix a leak, or provide the correct number of fresh towels, despite reminders gave us a poor impression of what was otherwise a good hotel.

The problem is in the way Qatari society is structured. The locals, on the whole are the owners of everything, and have great riches thanks to the oil boom. The work is done by the expatriate guest workers. The workers therefore are only there for the money, they put up with poor living and working conditions so long as they can make more money than at in their homeland, and send a surplus back to their families.

Naturally, there are some foreign workers coming into more senior positions, in management and engineering – but all the expats know their livelihood depends on not offending the bosses. This means there are very few people around that will say to the Qataris things like “This is not working” or “This is not the correct design”. Quite likely those that try to do this, soon find themselves looking for new employment.

The result is, at one end of the scale annoying faults in the hotel, but at the other end a piece of jagged metal sticking out of the ground, along an unfinished and unlit pathway between the road and Al Rayyan stadium, meaning one of our party suffered a painful gash on his leg, which needed medical attention.

For most of those that visit Qatar, the prospect is to spend time in comfortable, but expensive hotels. There is no sign of cheap options being made available, and if the tournament is held in the summer (as planned), then camping would not be an option. In January or February, it is a different matter.

Qatar is not cut off from the World, and is quite used to seeing foreigners walking down the street. They expect some respect to their customs, which generally means modest dress when one wanders around the city. Neither short skirts nor shorts are common. The exception seems to be the Corniche, where it seems quite acceptable for joggers and others taking their morning exercise to show some leg.

At the moment, alcohol sales are limited to a few bars in a few of the bigger hotels. One needs to show ID to get in, and there is a big disincentive for those thinking of getting drunk. The cheaper beers are around £6/pint. The good stuff costs more. I am sure that by 2022, there will have been some thought given to allowing the visiting football fans to get their drinks. I am sure prices will stay high, but there will be more availability.

Mall Life2 – Painted Ceilings

The real problem for football fans visiting Qatar during 2022 will be what to do when not watching football. At recent World Cups, just to see three group matches involves a serious amount of travelling and changing hotels. There has been a varied amount of sightseeing available around the country, and then the fans meet up socially, (and tend to drink a little).

In Qatar, it will be possible to pick a single base within Doha, and get to all the games without ever changing hotels. One can wander around the Corniche, Souq and a couple of museums in Doha, and spend a day or two on a desert safari. After that, there is nothing except the social and alcoholic options, and the football.

With two matches every day in the Asia Cup, the committed groundhopper keeps busy by seeing games every day. Even with this hectic schedule, we still had time to see most of the sights. At the World Cups in Germany and South Korea, I was more than happy to see matches such as Sweden v Trinidad & Tobago and Poland v USA – but the average football fan has little interest in these games. Even if tickets are much cheaper than recent world cups, fans will not be interested in many games beyond his own national team.

It is a football stadium! (Al-Sadd)

Even though Qatar is a peninsular with a long coastline, it is very short on beach resorts. The option of sitting around the pool with a cocktail and not leaving the hotel grounds for days at a time is hardly an option here. Even in the best run tournaments, there is always the risk that groups of fans can decide to make their own “entertainment”, and that this involves confrontation.

Enough of that for now, as the semi-finals have come and gone, and must be worth a mention, South Korea against Japan was the match I would have most liked to see, possibly as a final. The locals did not agree with me, and only 16,171 made their way to the Al Gharafa stadium for the first semi. It was a match requiring a stern referee, who knew what was and was not a penalty. It got Saudi Arabian Khalil Al Ghamdi. I do not know how good he is, as his only earlier game was the innocuous contest between South Korea and India, which I had not seen. He is experienced, having been at the last World Cup (nine yellow cards and one red in the Switzerland v Chile game). What I can say is that his penalty decisions this time were bitterly disputed.

The first was for South Korea, and involved Park Ji Sung being barged off the ball. The penalty given was hotly disputed, but this did not bother Ki Sung Yoo, who slotted the ball away. Ki then courted controversy by running towards the nearest camera and making “monkey gestures”, pulling and scratching his face. These are considered inflammatory to the Japanese, and the Celtic midfielder admitted reacting to a Japanese military flag held aloft in the stadium, but later suggested that his gesture was a reply to taunts from St Johnstone fans while he was playing for Celtic.

A lone spectator watches a game on a big screen, just outside the Khalifa Stadium. He cannot get closer as the car park between him and the screen is a “family area” with more guards outside, than people inside. The only other screen was in the Fun Zone, (which one has to pay to enter, and again has more guards than guests) – and this was positioned badly in the glare of the afternoon sun

South Korea soon had an appeal for a second penalty, again for a foul on Park Ji Sung, brushed aside before Japan levelled the scores through Ryoichi Maeda, slotting away a pass from Nagatomo. The second half was quieter in nature and led preceded the storm that was extra time. Hwang Jae-Song blocked Shinji Okazaki, making contact just outside the box, but the Japanese midfielder managed to fall the other side of the line, and another penalty was awarded.

Keisuke Honda’s kick was poor and game off the feet of Jung Sung-Ryong, but the fastest to react was Hajime Hosogai, who gave Japan the lead. This was held until the very end of extra time, when Hwang Jae-Song redeemed himself for the foul by thrashing home the loose ball after a goalmouth scramble.

The shootout was a victory for Japan’s Eiji Kawashima, who saved two Korean shots. Honda, despite having failed with his penalty during the game, made good with the first shot for Japan, then Koo Ja Cheol had his attempt saved. Okazaki made it 2-0, and a further save was made from Lee Yong-Rae’s shot. South Korea may have had some hope when Nagatoma failed to convert his penalty, but this was short lived as Hong Jeong-Ho missed the target. Yusuyuki Konno, who had conceded the foul for South Korea’s opening goal, was Japan’s fourth penalty taker, and gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead.

The Aspire Zone – on the left are two indoor arenas, one containing a swimming pool. The arches are the Khalifa stadium, while the big tower, known as the “Torch” contains restaurants and conference rooms

This was followed by Uzbekistan against Australia, (no time to get between games, but just enough for an advertising break if viewed on TV), played in front of a half full Khalifa stadium (given as 24,826). The Uzbeks were short of two key players – influential forward Aleksandr Geynrikh, and goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov. Both had been substituted during their quarter final. Ulugbek Bakayev, who had not played in the group games, but then partnered Geynrikh in the quarter final, (scoring both goals), started up front with Maksim Shatskikh. Shatskikh had himself missed out on the quarter finals. Temur Juraev, who came on for Nesterov in the quarter final continued between the sticks. It is fair to say that the Australians had been fortunate on the injury front, and fielded their strongest XI.

The Uzbek defence was soon found wanting, as Harry Kewell, attacking down the left put Australia into the lead after just five minutes. Ognenovski added a second before the break, and then the floodgates burst, as Bakayev received a second yellow card, and Australia added four more goals in the final 25 minutes.

From the Corniche, the new towers compete for attention

The official crowd given for the final was around 37,000 – indeed exactly one more person was recorded at this match than for the opener at the same stadium. The veracity of the figures are somewhat in doubt, despite the use of computerised turnstiles, which should accurately record the numbers in the stadium.

Throughout the tournament, the ticketing and attendances have been questioned. Some of the crowds given have been very small, but eye-witnesses have suggested the numbers in the stadium are even smaller. For the first two India games at Al-Sadd, people looking for tickets were turned away, but official figures show 25% (around 3000) seats empty. Once inside the stadiums, confusing reigns, as the stewarding is not sufficient to send individuals to the correct seats. Many were told to “sit anywhere”, and hence ended up taking seats in a higher pricing category than they had paid for. Later arrivals, having paid for these seats would have no assistance in moving people from their allocated seats, or finding suitable alternatives.

Meanwhile, there was criticism of the low numbers in attendance. The actual crowd figures were very variable, but a few matches had astonishing low crowds. Some of this is due to the compact nature of the tournament, meaning locals would pick and choose which matches to go to. The matches involving Qatar, and those involving countries with large numbers of expats (notably India and Syria) all got good crowds.

Restaurants in the Souq. In many places, a local cannot order a meal in his own language, as many waiters do not speak Arabic

Although Football is the number one spectator sport in Qatar and the country has a professional league – it does not publish its attendance figures.

Anyway, for the final, it appears the authorities were nervous of the idea of empty stands being shown on worldwide TV for this showpiece event. They will have known the numbers of advance ticket sales, but either this was insufficient, or they felt many would fail to turn up, with the match on television, and Qatar already eliminated.

SO in the hours before kick-off, a large number of people were admitted into the stadium without tickets. Some reports suggest students were encouraged to take up the opportunity.

The stadium is next to the country’s most popular shopping mall, and on a Saturday evening, this means heaving. With this and a big match in proximity, parking is at a premium, and the area’s road system soon gets clogged with traffic. Most locals should know that this is a problem, and plan accordingly.

And then, the Emir arrives. As always the ruler of the country arrives under strict security, and not long before the event starts. All the other gates to the stadium are closed during this time. Reports say that the gates did not open again, even though many ticket holders were left outside.

After initially denying that anything untoward had happened, the organisers first admitted 700 ticket holders had been denied entry, and now accept the numbers are somewhat greater – possibly around 3000. Ticket holders can now get a refund of their admission price, (but not of course, any other expenses incurred).

For the final, Japan were without the injured Shinji Kagawa, whose foot injury will mean missing most or all of the rest of Borussia Dortmund’s season. Australia had the best of the game, and the man of the match was given as Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. For Australia, Matt McKay had another good game (which must push him onto European club radar). McKay is one of the few “Socceroos” to have spent his career with Australian teams, except for short loan periods in Korea and China.

Only later in the second half did Japan really get into the game, with Shinji Okazaki coming close. Okazaki has been one of the (relatively few) discoveries of the tournament, and has since moved to Stuttgart. The match by a single goal in the second period of extra time, Nagatomo found space on the left flank and crossed to substitute Tadanari Lee, who hit a first time volley which flew into the net.

Although those on the pitch were probably enough, the evening was finished with more fireworks off the pitch (and some complaining they were kept in the stadium against their will).

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More Pictures than Words – 1: Holyhead and Penmaenmawr.

23/01/2011 by leo.

I thought that when there is not enough to write a long blog, that a short one with plenty of pictures would be in order.

A two day trip to North Wales to see Holyhead Hotspur and Penmaenmawr Phoenix, in the Welsh Alliance.

I started by heading up to Holyhead via the A5 – in Wales, even on a Friday evening, this is miles away from the traffic that fills the reports on the airwaves. In the late afternoon sunshine, it is possible to stop and enjoy some of the views.

After checking into the hotel, it is of course dark by the time one arrives at the first ground. Still the welcome is bright.

When the FAW forced the leagues to reduce numbers at the end of last season, Holyhead were somewhat unfortunate. Having finished in the top half of the Cymru Alliance last season, they were still “relegated” to the Welsh Alliance. This season they are making a serious effort to regain their place, and currently lie in second place behind Conwy United. A straight forward win over Pwllheli leaves them one point behind Conwy but the leaders have a game in hand. Less than half of the games have been played, so it’s still “all the play for”.

A crowd of 225 for this match, the best of the season at Holyhead, and better than the averages at two of the clubs in the Welsh Premier League.

I stayed in Beaumaris, the other side of Anglesey to Holyhead. The advantage of going to places like this in January is that one can stay at off season rates. Oddly, while more expensive hotels cut their prices, some of the cheaper places do not – meaning the prices are the same at both. I stayed at the Bulkeley Hotel, a grade one listed building, and I only made the booking on the day of the trip.

The Bulkeley Hotel. The “stone circle” in the foreground is not genuine, but installed quite recently when an Eisteddfod was held in the town.

The town boasts a fine castle and views over the Menai straights, and became a resort in Victorian times. Nowadays, it provides a pleasant spot on a touring holiday, or even a base for further travel.

Penmaenmawr is a short distance down coast road, the A55. It too enjoyed some popularity as a resort town, and notes than Benjamin Disraeli used to be a regular guest. The hills slope steeply above the village, and the main business of the area is as a quarry, leading to rows of small cottages on the hillside. It was enough to persuade me to climb slightly.

The ground itself is not a lot to write about. There is a car park off the old Conwy Road, (the new dual carriageway runs parallel and just towards the coast). Dressing rooms are one side of this, with the pitch at the top of the car park and on the other side. It is a railed off pitch, with a concrete path up to the halfway line on one side. Behind the goal there is a small amount of shelter, with the club name written on the back wall. Built into one end of this is a tea hut, ably run by club secretary Cathy Williams.

One could not help noticing that in three of the four corners, there were mobile phone masks – each equipped with some lighting partway up, providing the club with training lights and some income. The pylons were labelled as O2, Vodaphone and T-Mobile. Orange and 3 seem to be missing out. I suggested that when renewing contracts, they should try and get taller masts. Mobile phone masts are easier to get planning permission for then floodlights!! My mobile reception was good!!

As for the game, Penmaenmawr were outclassed, and Bodedern should have scored more than four they ended up with. Bodedern are in second place and have every chance of promotion. For Phoenix the good news is that there should be no relegation from the division, (which currently has only 11 teams) at the end of the season. There are applicants to join the league from both the Gwynedd and Clwyd Leagues.

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The Short and Busy Roads!

21/01/2011 by leo.

With my week in Qatar coming to an end, first priority is to negotiate an exit from the hotel. It’s going to be an evening flight, and I do not want to leave the room too early. The hotel is quite good, but there have been some niggling problems throughout the stay, and comments and complaints have had a partial effect. For example, we need to ask for towels, water and coffee on several occasions, including sometimes when housekeeping come to our room just to deliver these items. There is also an annoying leak in the bathroom, meaning the floor is often wet.

I take the list downstairs and demand to see the manager. He is, of course very apologetic. I then mention the fact that our flight is not until after 11 that evening. He does a calculation, and decides we need to leave the hotel at 8.30 to catch it. Without further prompting, we have a very late check out, and a free limousine to get us there.

To some extent, the problems in the hotel mirror those of the country, or at least city as a whole. It is a pleasant place, and the overall design is interesting – but wherever you go, you see little things that have not been done right, and which in general are not about to be fixed. Even the Corniche, the highlight of the city suffers from uneven and cracked paving. Certainly the original plan was fine, but as always seems to be the case in Asia, (except Japan and Singapore), what looks to be fantastic from a distance does not stand for close-up scrutiny. There are always little cracks in the edifice. Asia just does not meet together at the joins, and Qatar is a clear example of this. Walking around the new city, one can be surprised at how many pathways just fade out for a period as the paving has not been done, or if a building is higher than the surrounding road, the impossible humps in the paving around it. It can be difficult for the able bodied to walk these, impossible for those pushing a pram, or in a wheelchair.

Incidentally, while we saw many prams, especially around malls and parks, I cannot remember seeing a wheelchair or a clearly disabled person on the trip. Where does a country like Qatar put their disabled people?

Falcon, India, c 1640

One point in the city that is well worth a visit is the museum of Islamic Art. This is a large modern building, rather angular that juts out into the sea from the Corniche, jus past a Dhow harbour. Admission is free, except for a special exhibition gallery which I skipped. Although the title is Islamic Art, the exhibits were not religious in nature, but examples of art created in Islamic societies. Paintings are not to the fore, with the best exhibits (to my eye) being either ornamental or practical. It was also very notable that while there were items from across the Islamic World, few, if any of the items were actually from Qatar, or anywhere in the Arabian peninsular.

“Lion” Incense burner, Iran, 12^th century

My final game is the Group C match between Australia and South Korea. It is my third visit to the Al Gharafa. Both teams have won their first game, and Australia are unchanged. Korea bring in Hwang Jae Won as centre half in place of the suspended Kwak Tae Hwi.

An entertaining start saw chances at both ends, with Harry Kewell missing a chance for Australia. South Korea had by far the more numerous and noisier support, and began to take control, this was demonstrated on 23 minutes when Jo Dong Won received a through ball in the area, and held it up for the incoming Koo Cha Cheol to open the scoring. This is Koo’s third goal after his brace in the opening game.

Australia were not without opportunity, and Harry Kewell was looking their most likely, receiving a lay-off from a 31^st minute free kick, he just shot over from more than 25 yards, and he also shot just wide on 38 – but in between these, South Korea had created several promising openings with Park Ji Sung in particular looking dangerous. In particular, he combines well with the winger Lee Chung Yong. Australia appeared to have a golden chance when the ball ran through to Cahill in space, but Cha Du Ru reacted quickly to knock the ball off his toes and concede the corner.

The “Fearsome Foursome”, Spanner, DJ, Eddie and Peter relaxing on the Corniche

After a shaky start to the second half, Australia clearly started to get back into the game and were rewarded on 62 minutes when Jedinak headed in an equaliser. He received the ball from a short cross by Lucas Neill after Cahill had headed on a corner, but Korean goalkeeper Jung Sungryong will be disappointed not to have dealt with it better. South Korea almost got the best possible response within a minute with Jo Dong Won shooting just wide after good work by Park Ji Sung. Then Cahill was ruled offside when clear, but anyway Jung did well this time to stop the shot.

South Korea made a double substitution with 20 minutes to play, changing both of their strikers – with both sides having won their opening games, a draw might suit both, but there is no sign as yet of either team going for this. Schwarzer needed to be aware in cutting out a cross from Lee Young Pyo. As the game neared its end, we thought the team’s might settle for a draw, which after all would not be bad for either, but an 86^th minute header by Ki Sung Yeung, saved by Schwarzer proved the teams were still going for it. One each was, of course, the final score.

Park Ji Sung (7) and Yoo Byung Soo of South Korea, with David Carney (3) and Mile Jedinak

Later on the same day, Bahrain beat India 5-2. India are therefore out of the competition and have conceded nine goals in their first two games – no doubt Bob Houghton will get the blame and be sent on his way, but really it lies with the AFC for their qualification procedures that guarantees two minnows qualifying (from the AFC Challenge Cup) without having to beat the higher ranked teams knocked out of the qualifying tournament to make way for them. Both South Korea and Australia are certain to qualify if they draw or win their final game, Bahrain also know that a win will see them into the quarter-finals.

I do like to keep in touch with how the tournaments continue after I have left, even though I had made it to Cheltenham before the next match started. At the end of the Australia v South Korea game, I met up with Paul and Kevin and soon discovered a lack of public transport around the stadium. We therefore hopped the media bus back to the main stadium, even though this was further than we wanted to go. We then choose to take a quick snack at the food hall of the neighbouring mall, even though this was heaving with crowds. In the most popular mall in the country, Friday night is the most popular time. This is probably also the most democratic part of the country, where wealthy locals rub shoulders with off duty “guest workers”. Naturally all the on-duty staff were imported, and even the Qatari families still need a Filipino nanny if there is a push chair to be pushed!

From the mall, it was a taxi back to the hotel. Fifteen minutes driving, but only after fifteen minutes queuing to get out of the car park. The taxi driver was trying various methods of avoiding the queues, as Qatari taxi meters do not ramp up the Riyals while waiting in a jam! These efforts probably saved us about 10 minutes! From the hotel, the limousine ruches us in comfort to the airport

So we had nearly two hours in the strangely functional airport. Naturally everyone is pushed through the duty free shop on entry, but only a fool would not notice prices for duty free here is much more expensive than any UK High Street. Upstairs is a cafeteria no less. One would expect something more opulent from a country that prides itself on opulence – but then I could see no locals here, so I guess none have cheap enough tickets to be turned away from the lounges.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I changed planes at Dubai, bidding farewell to Paul and Kevin heading to Gatwick (as I went to Heathrow). All of us were on near full planes, and the journey back was not in the comfort of the outward flight. The duty free prices at Dubai are better than Doha, but I could not be bothered. From Heathrow, I need a bus to get back to my mother’s home (where my car is parked), and then drive in two stages (with a stop at my own home, for about an hour) to Cheltenham. We lost.

Meanwhile, Iran beat North Korea 1-0, and thanks to an own goal, three minutes into injury time, Iraq took the points against UAE. This meant Iran could not be overtaken as Group D leaders, while a draw against North Korea would assure Iraq of also appearing in the quarter finals.

When group A concluded on Sunday, Qatar got two early goals to set them on the way, and added another late on. The Chinese struggled despite an early goal, with Uzbekistan levelling before half time, and then going ahead just after the break. China were soon back on level terms, but they must have known that with Qatar winning, a straight victory of the Uzbeks would not be enough. If three teams were to finish on 6 points, China needed a two goal lead at least, but they never got beyond level terms, and went home again without reaching their potential. Their consolation, (hopefully coincidental), was a new Qatar-China oil deal signed the day after Qatar had beaten China.

On Monday, Japan ripped through the already out Saudi Arabia. Three goals up within 20 minutes, and two more added in the second half. Saudi Arabia used to be a power in Asian football, but they now can only look on as the power has switched to the East. Syria’s opening match victory over Saudi had shown them up from the beginning, of the teams that did not make it to the quarter finals, I feel Syria were the most unfortunate. Against Jordan, they went a goal up, but conceded an equaliser, (an own goal at that) before the break. A draw would be enough for Jordan, but Odal Al Saify scored on the hour mark to take his side through.

Draws would be enough to take both South Korea and Australia through from Group C, but the Koreans were not having that against India. In the 12^th minute, India scored through a penalty, but this only brought the scores back to 2-1. South Korea ended up 4-1 winners, but either this Indian goal, or their failure to get a fifth meant they finished second (on goal difference) to an Australia side who struggled to beat Bahrain. Mile Jedinak scored on 37 minutes, but the reports give Mark Schwarzer, the goalkeeper as man of the match in a 1-0 win. Finally, a goal midway through the first half gave Iraq victory over a defensively minded North Korean side, whose tournament record (including a missed penalty) was none scored, two conceded. The North Koreans did not even finish bottom of the group, as late goals meant Iran ended up 3-0 winners over UAE, two of the goals came after both teams had a player sent off.

So the quarter final line up is (group winners listed first)

Friday: Japan v Qatar, Uzbekistan v Jordan

Saturday: Australia v Iraq and Iran v South Korea

At the risk of being wrong quickly, (this post is made less than two hours before the first game starts), I cannot see beyond the two group winners (Japan and Uzbekistan) in the first two games. The second games will be much more difficult to predict. I think Australia may just shade the match against Iraq, while it is “Iran’s turn”, in the other game. This is the fifth successive tournament where Iran and South Korea have met in the quarter-finals, Iran won in 1996 and 2004, while South Korea were victorious in 2000 and 2007. On all four occasions, the match winner has then succumbed in the semi-final, and ended up taking third place. With Japan as the likely semi-final opponent, history may well repeat itself

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Arabian Days.

19/01/2011 by leo.

Having spent our first few days in Qatar in a football intensive mode, ticking off all the grounds, and getting to see all 16 teams play their opening game, the final three days were more relaxed, allowing us to see a little more of our surrounds, and choosing the better game each day.

For the first of these, we picked on a return trip to the Khalifa International Stadium. Having been beaten in the opening game, Qatar would need to pull out all the stops against a Chinese side whose victory over Kuwait had been competently managed. The earlier match would see Uzbekistan take on Kuwait, and on the evidence of the opening games, we felt this would not be a difficult task for the central Asian team.

The Stadium is part of a vast complex, known as the Aspire Zone. From my earlier visits, I had seen the stadium, the Ladies Sports Hall (which was being used as a media centre), and the Villagio Shopping Mall. But this was only part of the complex, mainly built to stage the 2006 Asian Games. (For countries in Asia, the Asian games are a very prestigious Olympic type multi-sport event. Like the Commonwealth games, but much more serious).

The two blue half domes are an indoor stadium, and the aquatic centre (i.e. swimming pool). The arches are part of the main stadium, while the tower is called “The Torch” and houses restaurants and conference venues.

Further back in the complex, there are all manner of training pitches, and a grass park area, given over as a fan zone. It was 5 Riyal (almost a pound) to enter, and most of the locals had decided it was not worth the money, leaving a few kids playing small sided football in cages, a row of food stalls without customers and sponsors stands wondering where the punters were. All arranged on a pleasant lake side location. No doubt when the football has finished, families will walk to the lake from the mall, to sit and eat picnics or play ball.

The “Fun Zone’s” Big Screen.

While wandering around, I saw Uzbekistan take the lead against Kuwait on the big screen, but did not tarry – instead taking a walk around the outer perimeter of the big stadium.

By the time I was in front of a TV screen again, Uzbekistan were 2-1 up. I now watched the closing minutes, and to be honest, Kuwait had most of the play, and were unlucky not to level the game in this period. I understand though that this was something of a late recovery, and the Uzbeks deserved the points for the performance over 90 minutes. And so once again into the stadium.

Needing a win in their second game, Qatar started on the offensive, and really should have gone ahead following a defensive error by Zhao Peng. This allowed Qatar’s Uruguay born Sebastian Soria a clear shot on goal, which he mis-kicked and sent wide. China soon came more into the game, which by mid half, had become end to end. In the 25^th minute, China’s Deng Zhoxiang headed narrowly wide, but this was followed within a minute by two attempts at the other end by Yuseh Ahmed. The first went into the side netting, but the second, which followed a sublime piece of control, was thundered into the net.

I would have said that China had more of the play in the remainder of the half, but having more of the play means very little. This is especially true when one of your opponents is on form, and this was Yusuf Ahmed’s time. Receiving a pass on the edge of the penalty area, and with his back to goal, he turned in a move which was too much for defender Du Wei and slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Two nil to Qatar, and only seconds of injury time after the goal.

Qatar did a good job of shutting down the Chinese in the second half. China have always been known as a team that lacks the confidence to come back from behind, and they gave precious little sign of changing this. Indeed, while China had most of the ball in the second period, the best of the few real chances created went to Qatar. China’s cause was not helped, in that after making all three substitutions before the 60 minute mark, they played the last part of the game with ten men, following an injury to centre half Zhao Peng.

I would like to say that the locals were ecstatic over their victory, but in fact they were quite quiet about it, and the noise in this stadium never matched that generated by the Syrians or Indians for their games. The crowd was, I believe, made up mainly of actual Qatari citizens rather than the more numerous guest workers. This assumption comes from the fact that many were wearing their Arab robes.

The day finished with a sizable group of both English and German groundhoppers sharing a table in the Ramada, drinking beer at £7/pint, and watching English football live on TV. There are not many bars available in Qatar, the beer is expensive, and I feel the atmosphere is not helped by the lack of a smoking ban, (i.e. it was smoky). One has to show your passport or other identity to get in. I saw two people in Arab robes talk to the doorman and leave, (perhaps turned away for being a local Muslim?), leaving the customers in the bar as 90% white.

For my penultimate day in the territory, we had chosen the evening game, the clash between South Korea and Australia at the Qatar Sports Centre. This gave us a chance to get out of the city for the day. We looked at the various touring options suggested by our hotel, but as they started at over £50 per person, even for the straight forward coach tour, we did not fancy them. Anyway, a quick enquiry showed that car hire could be achieved for 130 Riyals, around £24 per day. The only catch was that this was Thursday, and the car hire offices (except in the airport) would be closed the next day. But as we did not need the car for the evening, this being the closest ground to our hotel, we chose to return the vehicle before the game.

We drove out to the North of the city, taking a snack in a fisherman’s café in Al Khor, the next town north of Doha. The fishermen were invariably Indian in origin, but the fishing dhows are traditional. The welcome in the café was friendly, the food and coffee relatively cheap, and certainly good.

We ventured further north on the highway, which for most of its length is subject to road works, as the infrastructure of Qatar is in the middle of an incredible building process. In a couple of years time, a three line highway will connect Doha with the northern tip of Al Shamal, but one wonders how much traffic this will take. Maybe the Al Shamal Sports Club can gain promotion, and there will be hordes of football fans heading up the motorway to their new stadium.

Al Shamal is another fishing village, not much different to Al Khor, but you cannot miss the new stadium as you approach. What you can miss is the fact that it is a new football stadium, styled as a traditional fort, with the floodlight pylons barely visible above the towers. This is as close as we could get, with the car park and access roads not yet completed.

The new stadium of Al Shamal Sports Club

A “used dhow” in Al Shamal Harbour

From here we head westward. We are now driving on a tarmac road, but through the desert. This is not the rolling sand dunes of “Lawrence of Arabia”, but a hard rocky and flat surface – the rocks making it impossible for even a 4×4 to drive off the road. There are sparse low bushes and the occasional tree out of this barren landscape, and from time to time we saw camels grazing. Following the ancient arab proverb, “Trust in Allah, but first tether your camel”, we could see that these camels had their front legs tied together. This allowed them movement across the area to graze on the meagre rations, but prevented them from breaking into a run, so they would still be close when their owner returned.

Further west, one reaches the Al Zubarah Fort. In a land with few sites for the tourists, this is picture postcard land, but it is in fact both small, and rather recently (1936) built. This of course means that it is in a good state of preservation. The old town that it was built to protect having disappeared into the sand, as the pearl fishing industry has practically died out from Qatar waters, and the population has migrated to Doha. We arrived around one o’clock, and the guidebooks said the place would be closed. It was certainly deserted, and we saw no one else, but the door was not locked, so we just walked in and looked around.

All in all, we made a 300 km trip around the north of the country and were away from the city for less than 6 hours. With petrol (the premium brand) at 15p/litre, we paid under £4 for fuel, a total travel cost for the day of 150 Riyals, less than £30.

We returned the car, and walked for 30 minutes around the construction sites to the Qatar Sports Club. By this time we knew that Saudi Arabia had lost 1-0 to Jordan. Saudi Arabia had sacked their coach, Jose Peseiro after their opening defeat by Syria. Nassar Al Johor returned for his fifth spell in charge, but he must have known this was a stop gap measure, as the second defeat left them knocked out, and with Japan still to play. Indeed within a day of the Saudi team returning home, the entire management team was gone, while Prince Sultan bin Fahd lost his job as president of the Saudi FC after the second defeat to be replaced by Prince Nawaf bin Faisal. (Is there a common theme here? Naturally with changing members of the Royal family as leader of the association, it is no surprise that the hiring and firing is done directly by the King).

So with Saudi already knocked out, Syria knew that a win in this match meant certain qualification for the next round. Syria had the majority of the crowd at the Qatar Sports Club willing them to get past the group stage of the Asian Cup for the first time. Japan, however are happy to be favourites and play it with confidence and a certain swagger. It makes for an interest game as the noise levels rise for Syria’s breaks. It is the running of Shini Kagawa that breaks the spell, a long run sees him take the ball from the left wing to the right side of the six yard box, his shot is stopped, but Matsui lays off the loose ball to Hasebe to open the scoring on 35 minutes.

The second half starts with a similar pattern, Japan confident but not quite doing enough to unlock the Syrian defence again, while breakaways at the other end are always dangerous.

On the seventy minute mark, we have what has to be the most controversial incident during my trip. As Japan half cleared a Syrian attack, the Syrian attacker is closest to the goal. The ball is immediately played back to his feet, and the linesman’s flag is raised. Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima reacts quickly, diving for the ball, and bowling over the Syrian before pushing it away. The referee’s first action is to signal to the linesman to put down his flag, as he was ruling the attacker not offside.

If the attacker was not offside, then the laws are clear – a penalty for Syria, and a red card for the goalkeeper. This is the decision of the referee, but it takes some four minutes of protest before the Japanese substitute goalkeeper sees the ball kicked past him from the spot. Looking at the replays, the reason for the referee’s decision is clear, but not whether he got it right. Two players, one from each side went for the cleared ball, and if the Japanese was the only player to touch the ball, then the referee would be right. If the Syrian got either the kick or a deflection then the offside is correct. A goalkeeper can be sanctioned for a challenge on an offside player, (although a red card would then be harsh), but a penalty cannot be given as the ball is already dead.

After the match, we see the Asian way of sweeping controversy under the carpet. While every goal scored in this tournament has been replayed on TV from many angles, the crucial challenge prior to the penalty is only ever broadcast from the one camera angle. This leaves the matter of whether it was a through pass or not debatable, although it does appear that the white boot of the Syrian player is the one that kicks the ball. At the press conference, the Japanese coach insists that there will be an appeal against the red card, and naturally we await the result with interest. But the appeal is dismissed, not because the referee was correct, but because the appeal was not made in time – apparently it must be made within two hours of the end of the match. Now it could be an hour or more before the coach is finished with the press conference, making it almost impossible for the appeal to reach the authorities in time. I loved the AFC statement, “No appeal was made in time, everything else is correspondence”.

Seven minutes later, the referee gives another penalty, with far less fuss. Shinji Okazaki is fouled by Ali Dyab, and Japan retake the lead through Keisuke Honda. From this point on, the game is almost one way traffic as Syria attack desperately against the ten men of Japan, and they are given six minutes of injury time, (although with the penalty delay, this is on the low side) . It was a Japanese breakaway that caused the biggest incident. Nadim Sabag was booked for fouling Okazaki near the edge of the area. As the Japanese delay taking the free kick, Sabag does not keep back tne yards, and picks up his second booking without the ball coming into play since the first

The free kick is cleared, and this is the last incident of note. Japan and Jordan end the day on 4 points, Syria on three, but the advantage is with Japan whose final match is against Saudi Arabia.

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New Battles for Indonesian Football.

18/01/2011 by leo.

The Indonesia Premier League (LPI) kicked off a week ago. In the opening match Solo FC were defeated 5-1 at home by Persema Malang, in front of 22,000 spectators.

While some readers may be surprised by the size of the crowd, (which is in fact not remarkable by Indonesian standards), the first match of a league season halfway across the world is not a matter for concern to many.

But the away team, Persema Malang have already played eight league matches this season, prior to the opening league game. How can that be?

The reason is that the Indonesian Premier League is not what you might expect, the top level of football in Indonesia, but an entirely new league formed without the authorisation from the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI).

The authorised league, started in September with 18 teams, and is called the Indonesian Super League. It now has only 15 teams, as Persema have withdrawn, along with PSM Makassar and Persibo Bojonegoro. The new league will start with 19 teams, but hopes to actually have a 20^th member added soon.

Most of the teams have names that would be more familiar outside Indonesia than within it. Six of them are just a place name followed by the initials FC, while three more have the title “United”. In Tengerang, there is Tengerang Wolves, while elsewhere we see Real Mataram and Batavia Union. The Indonesian standard of either using initials are an abbreviation of a much longer name has only be kept by those clubs moving from the old league. The two initials PS, or starting a team name with “Pers…” or “Perse…” are standard abbreviations for Football Association, and were common to 13 of the 18 clubs starting the old ISL.

The new names are for new clubs, although one cannot help but think that some of these include an unofficial connection with the old clubs. In Jakarta, a new team is called Jakarta FC 1928. An odd name one would feel for a club founded in 2010 or 2011? Its badge has red and white stripes and a tiger. The badge of the main club in the city, Persija (still, of course in the ISL) also shows red and white stripes, while their major supporters club, Jakmania, shows a very similar tiger on their web page. If there is no connection, then I would imagine a court case for using similar symbols will be forthcoming.

FIFA has taken the only action available to it. It is fully supportive of the status quo, and has backed the PSSI against the new league. While strong on words, the PSSI are short on actions so far, and the only action clearly taken is to remove a few players who have switched leagues from their squad for a forthcoming Olympic qualifier. Considering how little chance Indonesia had of qualifying for the finals in Britain, weakening this squad is not quite a case of cutting one’s nose off to spite the face, more a light bruising.

Meanwhile the PSSI has other worries. The Corruption Eradication Commission has been investigating their activities, and has now called for a full audit of the PSSI’s financial affairs. Accused of mismanaging funds and tickets, the PSSI are protesting that such interference is unnecessary. Here too, they will find support in Zurich. FIFA have a long record of protecting national FA administrations from local investigation, even though FIFA provide an annual subsidy and this money is part of that which may be misused.

The treasurer of the PSSI, Achsanul Qasasi said the association was audited annually by a public accountant. He also argued that FIFA, the international governing body of football, routinely checked PSSI’s use of the annual subsidy. Not certain if the last bit was a joke or not, but it had me laughing.

It is not only the PSSI that is accused of unclear spending. Almost all the clubs in the ISL get a subsidy from local government, often in excess of £1 million. The local authorities are also generally responsible for the stadiums, and their maintenance. Most clubs, meanwhile are losing money as wages spiral, as well as the costs of travelling the length and breadth of the archipelago.

The new league, for the moment is free of local subsidy – although one wonders for how long. If the new league becomes popular, than politicians will soon try to ride on club’s coat tails for the publicity and popularity. Still, the new league does have ways of keeping costs down. The ISL now has only seven clubs on Java, the most populous and wealthy part of the country – this is down to historical reasons, as promotion and relegation is on merit, except for a when clubs financial problems cause them to fold. The IPL, which does not have to worry about merit, has 11 clubs on this island, and one more on neighbouring Bali. Still this does not ensure commercial success. Past viewing of the ISL and its predecessors suggest that 3 clubs in Jakarta, and one more close by in Bogor may be too many in a small area.

The extremities of the country are still represented with teams in Aceh (the northern tip of Sumatra), and Jayapura (close to the border of Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea). It also has teams at both ends of Sulawesi, Makassar and Manado. There are no Kalimantan (Borneo) teams in the new league, while the old league has three.

While keeping the league more compact will keep travelling costs down (from Jakarta, you will not get to Jayapura in less than 6½ hours, although you can do it for £200 return). On the other hand, I have always heard that some of the bigger crowds can be found far from the capital.

The league is the brainchild of oil tycoon Arifin Panigoro, and he says he intends it to improve football in the region. Whatever the established order may think about this, one thing they cannot claim is that Indonesian Football is not broke or that it does not need fixing.

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South Korea and Iran take plaudits in Groups C & D

16/01/2011 by leo.

Having kept my exploring to a minimum over the first couple of days, I finally got to walk part way down the Corniche on Monday morning. This is long curving bay is over three miles long, with my hotel and the new constructions at one end, while the older town is at the other. For the whole length, there is a dual carriageway road between the Corniche and any buildings, whereas on the seaside of the road, there is an expanse of grass, and a paved walkway next to the sea wall. Although the waters are very shallow, there is no access to the sea, or any beaches within the city.

At my end of the walk, where the gleaming new skyscrapers compete for attention, the effect can be quite spectacular, although at all times one can hear the steady noises of construction, reminding you that much of this area is incomplete. Once clear of this area, though, there is little around you, and no places to stop until the half way point, where there is some type of restaurant, and an Asian Cup sales booth.

At this point, we meet up (by chance) with Rob, who is fresh in from the airport, having not even checked into his hotel. He is picking up match tickets for eight games over a four day period. Paul and Kevin are trying to find their tickets for the rest of the tournament, and although the rigmarole of buying the tickets is long winded and slow, this is completed, with the exception that we are told the first game on the list – Australia v India at Al Sadd – is sold out.

This is a blow, as it is the only time we intended to go to this ground; and it is resolved to reach the stadium early in the hope tickets will become available.

The Stadium at Al-Sadd, seen from the outside

However, it is too early to be early, so we take a taxi to the Souq Waqif, further along the Corniche. Here we stop for a coffee and a snack from a Lebanese styled coffee shop. I think the person serving was from Bangladesh. We looked around the souk a little, but it had none of the hustle and bustle of say, its equivalent in Tunis. It does not appear to be greatly in use by the locals, and as a tourist trap, it would be better placed in a country that welcomes more tourists. It is in fact, the row of coffee shops and restaurants that runs down a wide street through the middle that brings the customers in.

Englishmen Abroad – from left, Rob, Kevin, John, Ratty and Paul

When we looked a little closer, we concluded that it was in fact a faux souq, recently renovated to look as visitors may expect a souq to look, but if the stall holders are not calling out for the custom of those passing by, (and indeed few are passing by), then it really does not have the feel to it.

The locals are more likely to be found in the mega shopping malls, which look the same here as any other city in the world, and with the same shops and fast food joints in most, they need some other feature to bring the consumer in. There is one near the main stadium and it is made to look like an old Italian town – with a reminder of Venice as “Gondolas” float down a central “Canal”. The ceilings are painted as blue sky with clouds, which gives a strange feeling when one steps inside after dark.

Inside the Mall, balloons stick to the painted ceiling

There is a lack of description here for games five and six, due to a computer fault, and the rather basic fact that they deserve little description. What does need to be mentioned is the Jassad bin Hamad Stadium, home of Al-Sadd.

This is a neat and very attractive modern stadium. All four sides are square to the pitch, and there is a single tier of seats which gives way only to the VIP areas on the main side. Well, to be accurate, VIP is now the highest price for tickets for ordinary mortals, the sponsors and invited guests here are promoted to be VVIPs. I am sure there is some special category for Sheiks and Sepp Blatter, more initials? Or just self proclaimed Gods?

The roof with covers all sides of the ground is glad in what appears to be metal, painted in metallic grey. The cladding is both under and over any superstructure, given the impression of a solid roof, that would be around half a meter thick!. The only support visible is cables hanging from four corner pillars, while the floodlights are on squat pylons coming out of the roof, and apparently trying to peer over the edge.

I must say I liked the ground, although for an international tournament, it is on the small side. Different sources place it at either 12,500 or 13,500 seats; which may mean it is the smallest of the stadia. Qatar Sports Club has been listed as between 12,500 and 15,000. [As they appear identical, I would assume Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa both hold the same number, around 25,000, whereas Khalifa supposedly held 50,000 for England, but a near capacity 25,000 for the opening game].

Al-Sadd’s ground is supposedly a cooled stadium. I am not sure exactly what this means, (it is not roofed), but I noticed some type of vent under every seat, so I assume cold air can be pumped through. This was entirely unnecessary in the cool January afternoon. When the ticketless arrived at the stadium, they were told that none were on sale, but there might be some available later. However, they managed to persuade the ticket office to call the stadium manager, and get tickets released. When the final figures were announced, it turned out that some 3000 seats (25% or more) were empty. The official figure was 9783.

In the following day’s paper, the AFC were appealing for more people to come to the games, but there was no explanation of how to achieve this when tickets are not offered for sale!

The majority of the support were Indians, this being one of the largest population of expats in Qatar. However, their team was never likely to do them proud, and the match was a cakewalk for Australia. A win by four goals was hardly a satisfactory result considering their dominance, but they appeared to declare in the second half. Tim Cahill got two of the goals, Harry Kewell and Brett Holman the others. The test for Australia will be the second game, when they play South Korea.

Having visited all five stadiums for the first five games, match six was the first to get a repeat visit. The match was South Korea v Bahrain at Al Gharafa. No problems getting tickets here, with a crowd of just 6669. Bahrain may lie not far from the coast of Qatar, but this has not persuaded their fans to travel over in great numbers. If they had done, they would not have been impressed, except in the final few minutes. South Korea spent most of the game well in the comfort zone, and Koo Cha Cheol scored just before and after the half time break to give them a two goal lead. It was only after a foul by Kwak Tae Hwi with five minutes to go that Bahrain found any hope. The Korean was sent off, and Faouzi Aaish converted the penalty. This meant a few nervous minutes for South Korea, as they ran down the clock, but they held on to the 2-1 victory.

The Group D matches saw us repeat the travelling options from two days previously, starting at Qatar Sports Club where North Korea were taking on UAE, and then going back to Al Rayyan to see the Iran-Iraq clash.

North Korea had an early chance to take the lead, following a clumsy challenge by Hamdan Al Kamali on Jong Tae Se. Hong Yong Jo stepped up and hit the penalty against the bar. Hong Yong Jo is one of three North Korean born players who play their football abroad, he has been at Rostov, while two others play for Wil in Switzerland. The team also includes three Japanese born Koreans, two of which play in Japan while Jong Tae Se is with VfL Bochum.

The North Korean fans, who all sat together in a block, all wearing shirt and tie, appeared to be the champions of a synchronised cheering contest. Led by a cheerleader, who saw little of the game, they almost all held small North Korean flags and waved them in unison

Wave to the Right, Please

UAE had very little to show in the first twenty-five minutes, but then Korean keeper needed to make a sharpish save when Ismaeil Matar received the loose ball after a defensive error, and they started to get more into the game and had several close shots.

Somewhat to our surprise, the North Korean fans were somewhat tardy in taking their seats at the start of the second half, leading us to wonder whether there had been mass defections, or if they might suffer criticism for a failing in their synchronised flag waving, once back in Pyongyang.

Meanwhile a long shot from Matar goes narrowly over the bar as UAE start the strongest in the second half. The game gradually slows down and by the time there are 20 minutes to play we are all resigned to it remaining scoreless.

This time the journey to Al Rayyan is less tense than two nights previously. Although a taxi I had booked had called me back to say he would not make it, Paul and Rob found a row of cabs waiting as they left the stadium. Paul sat in the taxi to claim, while Rob came looking for Steve and myself. Although by the time we reached the point the cabs had been waiting, it had been moved along by the police, Paul persuaded the taxi to circle the stadium, catching us up just before we may have given up. We arrived nearly thirty minutes before kick off.

The second game started in a lively manner with chances at both ends, and we did not have to wait long for a goal. A 13^th minute cross to the far post was met by Emad Mohammed Ridha who headed towards goal. The score was accredited to him, although it appeared that Younnus Mohmood (who had scored the goal in the final, four years ago) got a boot to the ball before it could cross the line. Emad, incidentally plays his club football in Iran. Iran levelled things in the 41^st minute when Teymourian found Rezaei just onside and needing only a step to pass a defender before shooting in from the right. Naturally, Iraq came back strongly, and Rahmati had to make two saves – from a Ala’a Abdulzehra header and a Samal Saeed long shot before the break.

Former Bolton player Andranik Teymourian celebrates the Iranian equaliser

Iraq started the second half with Samal Saeed shooting over after meeting a corner headed on by Younnis, while minutes later Mohammed Kassid had to be alert to fend off corners at the other end. Iran began to take control as the game moved on, Rezaei on the right wing keeping the ball moving and sending in threatening crosses, while two big centre halves pushed up and looked threatening whenever there was a corner or an opportunity for a long throw.

Although it seemed that Iran were in control, this had the potential to be fleeting, and it took a good block by Nosrati to stop Younnis putting Iraq ahead in the 70^th minute. On 75 minutes, a chance fell to Rezaei, but he could only place the ball into the side netting. Iran finally got the breakthrough on 84 minutes, a tug on substitute Khalatabari’s shirt gave Iran a free kick, wide on the left wing, and a deceptively curving shot from Iman Mobili was missed by everyone as it found its way into the net. Iran should have increased on the lead when Hadi Aghili headed a free kick over the bar.

With the match complete, we had now seen all 16 teams in their opening games. The best games were the Iran – Iraq and Syria – Saudi Arabia matches, but no clear favourite for the title has emerged. The South Koreans certainly look strong, while the Japanese seemed a little unprepared. With the win against Iraq under their belt, Iran also may also fancy their chances. The local teams present a different puzzle. One of the coaches went as far as to comment on the fact that not one of the teams who had competed in the previous month’s Arabian Gulf Cup had won their opening game in this tournament. Six teams play in both tournaments.

It is safe to say that more than half the coaches from this tournament will change jobs or at least become unemployed before long, but Saudi Arabia’s Jose Peseiro left quicker than most, receiving his marching orders after just one match.

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Qatar – Day 3. Shocks and Excitement in Group B

10/01/2011 by leo.

The area around my hotel is a little bit strange. It is called the diplomatic area, but that is only part of its “charm”. The embassy of the United Arab Emirates sits opposite the hotel, and is a low, whitewashed building surrounded by a similar whitewashed wall. It is anonymous as a building can be. Looking in the opposite direction though are all manner of tower blocks. Some of these may well be offices, but I think the majority are apartment buildings. The blocks are not anonymous, every single one is looking for some feature in order to stand out from those around it. Hence within the confines that no modern architect will use any building materials other than steel, glass and concrete, we have all sorts of design flourishes, curves, spikes, and the like. Some sort of Islamic motif is popular, so we have glass blocks seeming to rise out of the “ruin” of a traditional stone building, or large blocks with a domed roof. One feature many buildings here have in common, is that they are still under construction.

Tower Blocks competing for attention.

Between these blocks, the roads are all three lanes in each direction. Traffic however is sparse, but the traffic lights are set for a higher density, meaning you frequently wait for several minutes as nothing at all emerges from the side roads. The other side of town, however is a different matter, and our journeys to and from Khalifa have been dogged by lengthy traffic jams. It is with this in mind that we have some trepidation over our plans to see double header matches on the next few days. The opening matches in group B should prove the point. The early game is between Japan and Jordan, at the Qatar Sports Club, which is actually quite close to the hotel. I could probably walk it in 30 minutes. The later game is at Al Rayyan, the only stadium outside the Qatar municipality – we think it is around 25 kms. Kick off times are three hours apart.

The games on Tuesday are in the same order, and on the same pair of Stadia, so we intend to go to the first match, and try and book a taxi to meet us immediately after the game to transport us onwards. If successful, we will repeat the exercise two days later, if not then the latter trip will be to the second ground alone.

The Qatar sports club is the smallest of the stadia for this competition, and the closest to the city. It has a single tier of seats, nowhere near as high as that at Al Gharafa. The stands here are square with the pitch, and there is enough artificial grass overlaying to suggest that a running track has been covered up. One side is given over to the main stand and boxes, and from this side, the backdrop is the series of constructions going on in the diplomatic area

Japan clearly were in control of the early stages, although it took some time before they created a clear cut chance. On 25 minutes Makoto Hasebe shot through a crowd of players, a shot which Amer Shafi could only parry. Maya Yoshida put away the rebound, but was ruled offside. Hesitation by the Japanese defence allowed Hasen Fattah to get a shot from around the penalty spot after 29 minutes. It was a soft effort and went directly into Kawashima waiting hands. It took a fine save from Shafi to stop Kagawa putting Japan ahead on 40 minutes. He collected a pass from the right just outside the area and then burst two defenders before unleashing a shot.

Completely against the run of play, Jordan scored in the last minute of the first half, the shot from Hasan Abdel Fattah was heading straight towards the Japanese goalkeeper, but Maya Yoshida stuck his foot in the way, deflecting the ground shot into the roof of the net. The Jordanian fans, who were clearly the majority of the crowd went wild. Could this be revenge for the 2004 quarter-finals, when the Japanese, by persuading the referee to change ends partway through a penalty shoot out, cruelly defeated the Jordanians. At half tme, Japan changed their main striker, bringing on Tadanari Lee, Japanese born, but of Korean defence, who had played under-19 football for South Korea. Japan looked rattled at the start of the second half. Dortmund’s young star, Shinji Kagawa was seeing a lot of the ball, but he was failing to link with his team mates. Just before the hour, Stuttgart’s Shinji Okazaki came on, allowing Kagawa to move to the more central position he fills for Borussia.

Jordan were doing a very good job in containing the Japanese, and pushing up, pressing and trying to keep the ball away from the Japanese in their own half. When they lost the ball, they were quick to fall back and hold formation, helped by the fact that Japan do not tend to break at speed. Still chances were being created with both Makoto Hasebe and Okazaki shooting narrowly wide. Taking off the lone forward Abdallah Deeb on 71 minutes, Jordan were now in a very defensive formation, with no outright striker. Jordan suffered a blow in the 77^th minute when captain and influential defender Hatem Aqel was injured. Their resistance still held until into injury time, when Hasebe received a short corner and crossed it into the six yard box, where Maya Yoshida headed the ball past the slow to react goalkeeper. With a long period of injury time, mainly due to Hatem’s injury, Japan actually had chances to take an unlikely win, before settling for the point.

It was clear throughout the game that Japan had the more capable players, but they did not gel together well as a team. The team has suffered several injuries in the run up to the tournament, announcing two replacements at the deadline for changes (six hours before kick-off). They were also less prepared than most of the other teams here, with the climax to the domestic season not changing from its traditional New Year’s Day date. With this in mind, there is every chance they will improve for the other games.

At the end of the game, it was about a ten minute walk before I reached the point where the taxi had agreed to pick us up. My compatriots, Paul and Kevin were waiting, but no taxi. However, another car had offered to take us for 100 Riyals, (around £18), which we would have taken, had the actual cab not turned up suddenly, taking us on the meter (for 38 Riyals). With a couple of worrying traffic jams, we actually took around 25 minutes before the taxi dropped us, (still with five minute walks to the actual gates). Still there was a little over 15 minutes to go when I entered the stadium, and with stops to pick up a media tribune ticket, and grab a coffee and sandwich, taking my place with the national anthems in progress. It turned out that Paul and Kevin had a much more difficult time, taking almost all the spare time in order to reach their gate, and only entering the stadium as the national anthems were playing.

I do not have to describe the Al Rayyan (aka Ahmed bin Ali) Stadium, as my last post described Al Gharafa. The main difference between the pair is that at Al Gharafa, the seats here are red and black, rather than yellow and blue. After the classic finish, and the tense drive between games, I was pleased the game did not start in the most exciting of fashions. The atmosphere, however was electric with Syria having thousands of fans packing their half of the ground. Despite being closer, the Saudi Arabian team had only a fraction of the support. Apparently, there is a large Syrian ex-pat community with Qatar, which provides the basis of support. Our taxi driver late in the evening, who intended going to watch his team (India) play, felt that Syria, Iran and India would all benefit from the having very large communities in Qatar. Many of the Syrian supporters were standing throughout the game, and a crescendo of noise rose every time they went forward, or if Saudi just gave away possession. Although Saudi Arabia were considered favourites, the Syrians, maybe buoyed by the noise seemed to have the better of the early stages, and took the lead after a partial clearance on 37 minutes was met by Amer Dees who struck a well placed shot.

The goal seemed to spur Saudi Arabia into action, realising at last that this game may not be as simple as they thought it would be. Syria, after all are the only team to have come through the qualifying stages unbeaten, and they finished above China in the group. Saudi launched a series of raids down the wings at the start of the second half, and made two substitutions to improve their attacking options, the first of these was Taiseer Al Jassam, who came into the game at half time. The Syrian keeper punched out a corner on 60 minutes, only for Taiseer to head the ball back towards the goal, now the goalkeepers sight line was blocked by Naif Hazazi (the second Saudi substitute), and he did not see the ball until it was too late. Within minutes, Syria had regained the lead as the match on the field began to match the excitement in the crowd. The move started on the left, but the ball was crossed too long to be effective. It was then headed back to a more central position where Husein was in position to take his shot, and with a major deflection, Syria scored again. Having scored twice Husein, who had started the game as a defensive midfielder, moved up to be an attacking midfield role, after Adel Abdullah had come on as substitute. Saudi were now committed as an attacking force, but this made for an exciting game, as there were chances on the break, and both Husein, and Syria’s second substitute, Qussai Habib were keen to try and exploit the gaps. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia hit ball after ball into the area, where at times it seemed to bounce around like a virtual pinball. Mosab Balhous made a fantastic save from the head of Nawaf al Abid to keep Syria ahead as the game entered the four minutes of injury time. He then spent a minute getting treatment before the corner. The crowd was now getting noisier with each clearance- surely someone was going to step in and demand a decrease in decibels under health and safety legislation?

Celebrating the first goal

Finally, the whistle went and Syria could enjoy their victory. It is important victory for Syria, who face Japan next at the Qatar Sports Club. Seeing how Syria had a massive portion of the 15,768 crowd at Al Rayyan, it may be a very full stadium for this game. Japan should be desperate to make up for their disappointment in the first game, and should be capable of upping their game as the tournament progresses. Saudi Arabia will be even more determined to make up for their loss, and it will be interesting to see if this result was the peak for Jordan. After the opening two days, we certainly picked up a lot more excitement

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