AFC to crack down on age violations at U-19
JAKARTA (JP): The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has promised to take strong measures against any age violations proven to have occurred during the ongoing Asian Youth Under-19 soccer championship finals.
"The problems will not finish once the tournament comes to an end," AFC Vice President Nabon Noor said yesterday. AFC's top Indonesian official admitted that there might have been a number of overage cases in the championship's 58-year history.
"The problem is that we lack evidence. We have to respect the validity of passports," Nabon said, adding there was no indication of age violations through passport verification procedures.
Nabon said a national soccer federation faces a two or three year expulsion from international competitions by AFC if the region's soccer body finds it guilty of violating age requirements.
Kuwait's head of delegation, Mohammed Al Shamiri, told a press conference on Tuesday that he suspected six participating teams had brought in over-aged players to participate in the two-week event. He refused to disclose which teams he thought were cheating, but said that the Kuwaiti, Indonesian and Thai players were not among the offenders.
Shamiri also blasted AFC for taking no strict measures against violators. "They did know it, but they do nothing for the sake of friendliness," he said.
Nabon said AFC will step in to resolve the row after the championship. "Before entering this tournament, all participating teams had agreed to allow us to conduct rechecking procedures by examining their players' birth certificates and probably X-raying the players," Nabon said.
X-raying is widely used in sports to detect an athlete's age through his or her anatomy.
Nabon also defended AFC for not taking immediate action, saying that such measures would impede the organization of the tournament.
Syria favored
Friday's semifinals will focus rivalry between the region's western hemisphere and its opposing hemisphere when Syria meets Thailand and Iraq tackles Japan.
Syrian coach Marwan Arafat said yesterday his side was 100 percent ready not only to end Thailand's blistering run, but also to bring home the championship title.
"Our chance has grown better as we play Thailand instead of Japan or South Korea," Arafat said.
Syria, which edged out the defending champion 5-4 on penalties in their qualifier, becomes the only team to reach the last four rounds unbeaten. It has collected the tournament's highest points of 10 and topped the tournament's goal record with 13 against three.
Thailand admitted to being the underdog. "The Syrians are strong, but there won't be a one-sided match," Thailand team leader Thavatchai Sajakul said. A group of sponsors have earmarked US$20,000 in cash rewards for each Thailand player if the Southeast Asian side wins a final berth.
Finalists of the championship will enter the World Under-20 soccer championship finals in Lagos, Nigeria, next year.
Meanwhile, Japan was low-key yesterday about the semifinal battle against Iraq. Coach Koji Tanaka expressed his guarded optimism that his players would at least score a 1-0 victory.
"Beating South Korea is more than a morale building confidence maker for us," he said. Japan nipped the South Koreans 1-0, while requiring a draw to get into the semifinals.
The 1988 winner, Iraq, revealed optimism as well. Salman Ahmad Akram, the national coach who led Iraq's World Cup campaign in Mexico in 1990 and in the World Cup qualifying round in Doha, Qatar recently, said he had learned a lot from those experiences.
"We drew the Japanese national team in Doha, which prevented them from making a trip to the United States. SO why can't we beat them now," Akram said. (amd)