Japan assure soccer support to PFF

LAHORE Japan Football Association (JFA)s President Inukai Motoaki has assured the Pakistan Football Federation that it is ready to help the federation promote the game in Pakistan. The climate in certain areas of Japan and Pakistan is similar but the game plan and techniques of both teams are different and Pakistani footballers will learn a lot from Japanese way of playing as currently they are 45th in FIFA World Ranking, said PFF President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat who also congratulated Japan for 1-0 World Cup win over Cameroon at the Free State Stadium. It was their first win at the World Cup on foreign soil, and puts them on top of Group E along with the Netherlands, which beat Denmark 2-0. Faisal met Motoaki during 60th FIFA Congress held at Johannesburg on the eve of 19th World Cup opening ceremony in the FIFA Congress that brought together the decision makers of world football from 208 member nations, representing more member countries than the United Nations. Faisal, appointed by FIFA as World Cup Disciplinary Committee member in ongoing show, also attended Asian Football Confederation (AFC) when Johannesburg hosted AFC Extraordinary Congress 2010, on the sidelines of the 19th World Cup South Africa 2010, a day ahead of the 60th FIFA Congress. Faisal also met Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, President Bahrain Football Association for discussion on promotion of soccer and exchange of visits of men, women teams besides courses of refereeing, coaches and administrators. Earlier, Bahrain Football Association (BFA) on September 11-12 2005 turned decided to give Pakistan coaches. One of them, Salman Ahmed Sharida showed his class and helped Pakistan win the record-breaking gold in 10th South Asian Games at Colombo 2006. During the Congress, Faisal also met with Presidents of various national bodies like Frank Lowy (Football Federation Australia), Cho Chung Yun (Korea Football Association), Kafashian Ali (IR Iran Football Federation), Kazi Mohammed Salahuddin (Bangladesh Football Federation), Azim Ali (Football Association of Maldives), Zainudin Nordin (Singapore Football Association), Ganesh Thapa (All Nepal Football Association) and FIFA Disciplinary Committee Chairman Marcel Mathier (Switzerland) and AFC Vice President Manilal Fernando, aiming at cementing relations with the PFF.

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