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US military criticised for donating soccer balls

The United States military reportedly issued a statement regreting it had handed out soccer balls emblazoned with the name of Allah as part of a public relations exercise in Afghanistan. At least one of the balls - which were dropped by helicopter to children in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan - carried a small picture of the Saudi Arabian flag. The flag features in Arabic script the Islamic declaration of faith, which contains the words Allah and its Prophet Muhammad. Khost Governor Arsalah Jamal said villagers were upset and angry when they saw the ball. He also said the US military told him they bought the balls in a market in Kabul and they were made in China.

"The distribution of soccer balls was done in the spirit of goodwill, something that we hoped would bring Afghan children some enjoyment, " Sgt. Dean Welch said as reported by AP. "We regret any disturbance that was caused in this case," he said. "If we hurt one person, that is one too many."

Lahore beats Afghans in Pakistan women's final

Sports Sciences Club of Lahore won Pakistan's 3rd National Women’s Football Championship after beating Afghanistan 1-0 in the final at the Jinnah Stadium. Ace striker Ayesha Akram netted the winner in the 26th minute of the first half to help her team lift the coveted trophy. "The winners gave no chance whatsoever to all out attacks of Afghanistan in the second session and kept their slender lead intact till the end. Afghanistan’s main striker Hadesa missed an open chance in the second half when the goalkeeper of the winning team, Nabeela Raza, was alone in front of her," the Daily Times reported. Hidayat Ullah supervised the match while Ejaz Hussain, Yasmeen Zehra and Khalida Perveen performed duty on the touchline as his assistants.

Final positions: 1: Lahore’s Sports Sciences Club; 2: Afghanistan; 3: Karachi’s Diya Club; 4: Balochistan; 5: Islamabad; 6: Pakistan WAPDA;
7: Sindh; 8: Pak Punjab; 9: Young Rising Star Red; 10: Lahore Women’s Club; 11: Young Rising Star Blue; 12: Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Pilot FC; 13: Higher Education Commission; and 14: Mardan Club.

The visiting Afghanistan team will now play a two match friendly series against Pakistan on 26 and 27 August at the Punjab stadium, the first ever women's football event between the two countries. Bank Alfalah will be the sponsor of both games and entry to the stadium will be free.

Afghan women conclude first international friendly

The Afghanistan national women's football team has completed its first ever international match abroad competing in a club tournament in Pakistan. The squad of 20 female players and two female coaches faced neighboring Pakistan in a friendly on Saturday. They were beaten 2-0. Although there are now 500 registered women players across Afghanistan, the game has had to develop in a cautious way given the conservative society. "At the beginning we had lots of problems. Most families didn't want their daughters to play football. We kept being in contact with the parents to try to convince them there was nothing wrong with it," said Coach Abdul Saboor Walizadah.

Earlier, players told media of their passion for the game. "When I was a child I always wanted to be a good football player," the 18-year-old captain of the women's national football team, Shamila Khostani, told the BBC. "We don't care if we lose or win, but we try. But, unfortunately under the period of the Taleban I couldn't play football or any sport ... when the Taleban went I found the opportunity and started playing soccer. We wanted to show that girls can also play football like boys," she said. "Some people don't like girls playing soccer because they believe girls should not play soccer. But it is the wrong idea from these people. It's ok, good to see girls playing football," Hadisa Wali, told NDTV. "In Islam, we should wear the veil,but it is ok if we can wear cap, not veil. Cap is also good. It is perfect to wear cap because it cannot disturb while playing soccer," she said. Palwasha Daud played football growing up in Pakistan. "When I returned home to Afghanistan I played football during school sports classes. After that, when football teams were created, I wanted to register," she said.

Pakistan welcomes Afghan women to championship

The 15 local teams participating in the Pakistan Women’s Football Championship in Islamabad (16-24 August) are set to welcome the Afghanistan women's national team. “It will be historic because Afghan women competing in Pakistan will be great for the relationship of these two countries,” Pakistan Football Federation spokesman Akbar Wahidi told AFP. "The team’s involvement “will promote football on either side of the border,” he added. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are fledgling nations in women’s football. The Pakistani women’s only international exposure was in May 2006 when they featured in an event in Amman, Jordan.

Afghan women players follow a stricter dress code than their Pakistani counterparts. In addition to wearing long trousers like the Pakistani women, Afghan players also wear baseball caps covering their hair. Football is fast regaining its popularity in war-ravaged Afghanistan after suffering badly under the Taliban regime, Afghan coach Walizada said. “We have very good women footballers of international standard and we hope they will do very well in the future. Football has regained its popularity and it will go further up. The government is trying to break social taboos in sport, especially women’s sport, imposed by the former Taliban regime.”

Afghan women ready for first international friendly

The Afghanistan women's national football squad of 20 players and two female coaches will travel to Pakistan this month for a friendly. "This is the first time that Afghan women football players will go abroad for a match," coach Abdul Saboor Walizada told Reuters. Since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, Afghanistan has witnessed unprecedented personal freedoms. The Taliban banned women not only from sports, but also education and most work outside the home and forced them to wear the all-enveloping burqa when venturing outdoors.

Afghanistan's female football players wear tracksuits to cover their legs and some wear baseball caps covering their hair. Training sessions are held in Kabul's sports stadium, where the Taliban used to publicly execute murderers, amputate the limbs of thieves and lash adulterers. Since liberation, a women's sports body was established in 2004 and now sees growth in women's football, boxing, volleyball, basketball and taekwondo.

Olympic qualifier win not top target for Afghanistan

An Olympic qualifier win over Vietnam is not the main goal but displaying Afghanistan’s aspiration to play football, the country’s coach, Sung Jea Lee, said on arrival in Hanoi. The U-23 teams are scheduled to play Tuesday with the winner going through to the next round. Originally scheduled for last Wednesday, the game was postponed after Afghanistan failed to turn up because of flight problems.The Korean coach told Vietnam Net his players had trained for two months but the harsh climate in the country had hampered their drills. “We did not play a match last year and our last match was in late 2005 in the South Asian Football Championship in Pakistan,” he said.

FIFA reschedules Afghanistan-Vietnam U-23 game

FIFA, the world football body, has rescheduled the preliminary qualifying round for the Olympic Beijing 2008 U-23 tootball tournament between Vietnam and Afghanistan to 14 February 2007. The one-off tie was scheduled to be played on 7 February but the visitors failed to turn up for the game due to flight problems. FIFA, after discussions with both the national associations, decided to postpone the game rather than cancel it.

Vietnam will not play Olympic return leg in Kabul

The return leg of an Olympic Games Football Tournament qualifying match between Vietnam and Afghanistan has been cancelled due to security fears in the Afghan capital Kabul, the Asian Football Confederation has announced. An AFC official told there would only be one leg in this preliminary round because of security concerns. Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl confirmed his team would not travel to Afghanistan. "The AFC said there was a security problem and we did not need to go there. We heard Bangkok would stage the match but then they decided against it so that is much better for us," Riedl told Xinhu.