Fri, 23 Sep 1994

Over-age allegations are shrugged off

JAKARTA (JP): The semifinalists at the 29th Asian Youth Under- 19 soccer championship shrugged off over-age allegations as they prepared for today's battles.

The Syrian, Japanese, Iraqi and Thai sides gave no trace of anxiety about the sportsmanship row as they underwent their light training sessions. Syria and Japan, winners of Group A and B respectively, practiced at different locations across Jakarta today. Syria was at Menteng stadium, Central Jakarta, some 20 kilometers away from their rivals who had their warm-up at Lebak Bulus stadium, South Jakarta.

"The allegations have no basis. We would have never come here if we had committed such a wrong-doing," Iraqi coach Salman Ahmed Akram said in a high tone.

Three-time winner Iraq, which last took the laurels after beating Syria 6-5 on penalties in 1988, plays Japan for a final berth and a ticket to the World Youth Under-20 championship finals in Lagos, Nigeria in March of next year.

Mohammed Al Shammiri of Kuwait alleged on Tuesday that six out of the 10 teams participating in the tournament had some players above 19-year-old age limit.

Vice President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Nabon Noor promised on Wednesday that the region's soccer body would conduct an investigation into the case, which would include X- raying the young booters. He added that they would punish any national soccer federation whose players were found guilty, with two or three years expulsion from AFC-sanctioned competitions.

Japan and Thailand refused to make any comment, saying that everybody had a right to speak. "We appreciate his (Shammiri's) opinion. Everything is up to AFC now," Thailand coach Chatchai Phaholpai said.

Chatchai said the semifinal match against red-hot favorite Syria was all that filled his mind. He reiterated that his side was the underdog.

"Anything can happen in soccer. Some might say we ran into a little bit of luck, but who would have ever thought we could beat Japan?" he asked. Thailand stung Japan 2-0 in their Group B opener.

Libero Pranupong Pinsunvun, the architect of Thailand's 4-0 whipping of Kuwait, will certainly join his side despite a nose injury acquired in that game.

Come to win

The undefeated Syrian team, under the able coaching of Marwan Arafat and Russian Anatoly Baidachni, appear to be unstoppable.

"We came here to win," Arafat said bluntly. Syria, which outlasted defending champion Saudi Arabia in penalty shootouts to qualify for the tournament, is the only unbeaten team to make it to the last four rounds. With a total of 13 goals, said Arafat, we have proven that Syria deserved the World championship berth.

However, the coach implied that there might have been more.

"I asked my boys to stop the goal-taking spree when we led 6-0 in the first half in our last match against Kazakhstan," Arafat said of his powerful team.

Japan, making its tournament debut, was poised to continue its winning run. Coach Koji Tanaka, however, was tight-lipped about the crucial match against Iraq.

Fielding six players who are members of the star studded, professional J-league, the newcomer looked set to live up its billing as one of the continent's soccer powerhouses.

Tanaka will likely depend on Ulawa Reds' Nobuhisa Yamada and Kashima Antlers' Koji Kumagai in the midfield, with Suguru Ito leading up Japan's front charge.

However, Japan will still have to be on their toes. The tournament's top scorers, Amer Mushrif Mehsen and Mohammad Hassan, will be trying to pad their goal tallies and will certainly be real threats to the Japanese defenders. (amd)

Today's fixtures: Syria v Thailand, 5.30 p.m. Japan v Iraq, 7.30 p.m.