Watch out Brazil! Here we come!!!

The state of football is the same as that in India- poor infrastructure,inefficient bureaucrats who are only interested in furthering their power.
The solution lies in allowing corporate funding, better marketing through electronic media
Better organization at the Juniour level and finally making football as a financially viable career option for players even at the domestic level.

Well, I am a soccer fanatic and I love Italian Serie A. Not going to mention the team though, but I love following the Milanese and the Turin teams.

Well, for crying out loud. Did any of you watch PTV today. They were broadcasting the second friendly of the Indo-Pak tourney, from Islamabad. It was the Final match and Pakistan drew 1-1 last time. This time round they won 3-0. Damn, homie...! Awesome. Check out http://www.footballpakistan.com/ to find out the truth.

Pakistanis love sports. Its just that Pakistan got better players in some era of its history that it won the ICC Cricket World Cup, thanks to some dedicated souls. And then Junoon and Vitalsigns coming up with `national anthems` to support the endeavours in the next WC. We lost and are still losing.

Football has just not been realized as much as it should be. In my opinion, this game is most cost effective game in the world. So a third world country like Pakistan should be the first one to adopt it.

At the point of privately owned Leagues and government funding, the mere size of the undertaking is so immence that there needs to eb government intervention and initiative inorder to help a sport grow. Ministries of Sports are held responsible here. Pakistan is given at least 70 Lakhs in total by FIFA and Asian Federation to promote football, but I guess two goal posts and some chuna for marking the lines is just too expensive for that sort of money.

Promote Pakistani Soccer!

India won the last football match 1-0.

lloll Pakistan and Football ? ,,,, & .. Brazil WooO ..
that sounds funny like HELL ..
ROFL ..
... i dont THINK that we could do anything in this GAME ..
& ok .. juss Only suppose ..
evn if we able to do `something` in this game.. ..
how could u compete with the nations
who have ... HISTORY .. and coming to 1 more reality ,, our nation
cant take losin games who would u comment on it ?
btw ...lloll
Any-1 saw Pak Indi Football matches those Hairy Semi Naked Men
trying to `touch` the ball ?

lloll Pakistan and Football ? ,,,, & .. Brazil WooO ..
that sounds funny like HELL ..
ROFL ..
... i dont THINK that we could do anything in this GAME ..
& ok .. juss Only suppose ..
evn if we able to do `something` in this game.. ..
how could u compete with the nations
who have ... HISTORY .. and coming to 1 more reality ,, our nation
cant take losin games who would u comment on it ?
btw ...lloll
Any-1 saw Pak Indi Football matches those Hairy Semi Naked Men
trying to `touch` the ball ?

Another thing I would like to add is that people think that there is no football going on in Pakistan. I live in mega city of Karachi and I would like to inform most of the people that Football is as popular in karachi as cricket( at the local level). Infact it attracts more expectators than Cricket in local matches. In the non-developed areas of Liyari and almost all the poor areas, it is the sport of the youth, where people gather to watch the young stars play on the bare surface. The players don`t even get a medic if they get injured, they fall, get up and keep playing under the sun. All they need is a little exposure and a little money to keep themselves and the game alive.

How is it that the Arabs left their religion in the region and not their fervor for football? Well, ok, there`s this whole colonialism thing that got in the way, but still, why`d the Brits have to leave South Asia with the non-global sports of cricket & field hockey and not football?

Financially, football makes the most sense for the region. All any kid needs is a ball to practice with. He (or she) can play in the street, kick against a wall, play on dirt, in grass, put two markings on the ground to designate a goal post, what have you. Much of Brazil`s youth plays this way, for they are as destitute as many Pakistani children, even worse off perhaps. The irony is a big chunk of the world`s soccer balls are actually made in Pakistan.

I have wondered about the Pakistan team starting a few months before World Cup 2002 began...did Pakistan have a team? How was it ranked? Who was it ranked behind? When I saw this country of 140 million ranked behind the Faroe Islands, a bunch of Norwegian islands with a population of about 60 thousand, I new something was really amiss. I debated this with my parents, who are brainwashed with the ``but Pakistan is good at cricket and what`s wrong with cricket?``

Cricket is limited to the Commonwealth, which is not really a global scene. I`ve never appreciated the game, as much as I`ve tried. Maybe it`s the tea and crumpet-ness of the whole thing. The euphoria of attending a soccer match is unlike any other sport, and it would be great to see an intra-Pakistan League form and see a Karachi vs. Lahore rivalry captivate the full attention of both cities, much like Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona, Rio vs. Sao Paulo, etc. Had Pakistanis encountered this, they would begin to wonder why they just sat around watching hours long cricket series and drinking chai during the breaks. No time for chai or rooh-afza here! No sitting in the stands either. It`s all adrenaline.

It is all about marketing in the end. Making the sport seem cool to young boys, since anyone beyond the age of 10 is already lost. All it takes is a Ronaldo or a Beckham to start coming to the region and promoting the sport. There could be some amazing player potential with 1.4 billion people. Just a hunch. But beyond building players, it`s about building the fanbase (again, starting with the youth). Creating those local, marketable stars. Having an Urdu or Hindi-speaking sportscaster know how to vocally portray the excitement which is happening on the field, and how to yell and scream when a goal is made, a la Mexican television. The fact the India-Pakistan match series is happening is a start, though. I hope this trend has begun, and that Pakistan (and India) are ready to join 98% of the rest of the planet that actually appreciates the world`s ``most beautiful game.``

And yahyanoori, agreed: All the non-cricket players in Pakistan do deserve full kudos for keeping up with their sport, regardless that they get scant attention or money.

Re: # 6PAKISTANIS ARE 170% ISH PEOPLE, NOT 70%ISH.
If some one compares Jaffer Khan with Bagio, Ronaldo or XYZ, I would like to remind him that Pakistani footballers are keeping the game alive despite their poor financial situation. Where Bagio is earning millions and billions, a Pakistani footballer doesn`t even get enough money to keep himself and his family alive( no wonder he has lean legs). Hussain Shah, the famous boxer once said in his interview that he doesn`t even want to imagine the horrible days of his youth when he did not had enough money to feed his family. How can you expect him to defeat the billionaire Mike Tyson in the ring. Muhammad Yousuf, the snooker champion also faced almost the same situation. Pakistani boxers and footballers are keeping the games alive, the credit goes to them and only them and I salute them on their bravery and valour.

Re: # 8

Dear Malik, first of all I would like to apologize for having drawn a picture of your legs back there. I know it feels bad, but hey, there`s always a Hakeem Sulaiman out there somewhere to save the day! ;-)

Wrestlers are not very muscular. Look at them walk when they`re coming down that `aisle`. Muscular people and sportsmen don`t walk like that. And it`s not about having an excess of muscular tissue in your legs, its about having lots of it and being able to control it that makes you a good sportsman. If technique, mental prowess and training is all that takes to become a good sportsman then I think I can train the Paki team for FIFA in my virtual simulator lab and a white board!

American football? You mean that game in which some bulky men push, growl and hit each other with their shoulders just to give only ONE kick to that ball for a touchdown? Just ONE kick?! Come on man, soccer is better than that!

#8 by malik99

[If that werent the case, the match-stick legged South Koreans would not have made it to Semi Finals of previous football world cup.]

South Koreans are match-stick legged? Gimme a break!

Azure #6 writes ``Paki leg is lean, weak, femininish, shaky, wobbly and needs heavy duty workout.``

Azure, paki arms are lean, weak, feminish, shaky, wobbly and need heavy duty workout too. But then why is it that Afridi has hit more sixes than the muscular australians and englishmen?

Azure, sadly, its the mentality of Pakistanis like yourself that is femininshed, shaky, wobbly, and needs heavy duty workout :) For it is not the emotions and the muscles of the body that make a football team win, or else profressional wrestlers would be playing the game. Its the technique and the mental prowess and the training that makes a football team win. If that werent the case, the match-stick legged South Koreans would not have made it to Semi Finals of previous football world cup.

So while I am still for adopting American football as homage to our new masters, I take offense to your under-estimating our will to give a competition in whatever game we play at an international level.

Pakistan in Super Bowl 2020!!!!!

pakistan makes 90% of worlds footballs right?

Generally, Pakistanis are very 70 percent-ish people. They do what they think others can do, and don`t even try doing what others have never done. Lack of self confidence and determination are the contributing factors, but the problem can be rooted out only if people realized that they need encouragement and motivation to get things started. Ok, so they suck at self motivation... at least they can motivate others to do what others cannot do or do something which seems impossible! It takes just a few to start the trend in Pakiland, then the chain reaction starts.

Go to a house where every elder watches cricket. They sit around the TV like lazy slobs staring at some other lazy men playing slowly with a little cork ball wearing tons of padding and sunblocks. The rooh-afza drinks come in, and everyone takes a break to view the rest of the dumb game later in the evening. The same thing starts all over again, but this time the teams have switched from batting to balling and vice versa. When the match finally ends everyone realizes that they have lives to live. But since they`re too tired to do anything else after watching the match, they go to sleep. And guess what happens on the other side of the screen... PAISA PAISA PAISAAAAA!! Oh yes, fraud and money and politics.. that`s what this sick game called Cricket is all about.

Why Pakistanis can`t play Football? Like I said, they`re 70% people. Compare the Paki footballers leg width with some mediocre Brazilian, Italian or French player. The Paki leg is lean, weak, femininish, shaky, wobbly and needs heavy duty workout. Maybe its in our genes... maybe we`re too lazy to work harder and build more muscle mass. Or maybe we don`t get the right kind of steroids to get those hormones going!! Whatever the case might be... we just don`t try harder. And football isn`t a game for the weeners and the loonies, it`s for the ones who play the game for the love of it.

So it would be great if one day we`d see Pakistan in the quarter finals, at least, of some FIFA 30XX A.D. Football involves more teamwork, more emotion, more power, a wee bit o` sporty stealth, and tremendous amounts of energy for that 2 hour game. I do hope that our Pakistani team finally realizes how stupid a game they`re playing and shift to football. Inzi would make an excellent goalkeeper, Shoaib Akhter and Waqar Yonus would be the forwards and our little wicket keeper can be the defender! But I doubt the fact that loonies like them can even kick the ball 20 feet away!

Thanks for bringing this up Yahya. Long live the Football spirit! Bring `em on!

I just got back after a gruelling flight from nyc, turned on the telly and i saw blurbs of an india/pak football match which ended in a tied score, despite the fact that Baichung Bhutia(Indian captain) ain`t playing `cause he`s injured.Not bad i thought, since i always thought paks to be better at football than us indians.So, maybe this article does make some sense after all!!!.

i think you meant to say 22200... :)) if we are lucky...lol

No use of kicking and screaming at PFF. Time to introduce a privately owned Pakistan Soccer League (PSL) if the name is not taken already.

Who stops soccer (football) lovers to own city teams and compete against each other? We have to be idiots of the highest order to ask the Pak government that it could never deliver. Time to take action and start your own league. Heck with international football. We ought to have fun at home first.

The same suggestion goes for basketball, hockey, and cricket too. No need to have these national teams when we can`t even support a local team. Everything has to start from grounds up. Leave few big issues for the Pak government and take control of the rest.