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IRNA - Pakistan-Iran clash will be recorded in
November 2007 when the teams of the two nations will face each other after a
lapse of 15 years, the Pakistan Football Federation said Sunday.
Pakistan is being placed in tough Qualifying Group of AFC U19 Youth
Championship and besides Iran; Pakistan will take on India and Asian
powerhouse Bahrain, Oman and Lebanon in Group-B from 1-11 November 2007.
Pakistan is taking part regularly in the tournament which was an annual
event until 1978, the competition is now played on a biennial basis
following the inauguration of the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1977, and
is also restricted to under-19s. Only the players born on or after 1 January
1988 are eligible to appear in the event.
Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)'s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh
Hayat is taking stern ambitious steps to build up a formidable team for the
November show.
"National U18 Football Championship, from 3 - 11 August 2007, will provide
us talented players and we are also hoping some budding footballers from
National U15 event to stand against big teams of Asia," said Faisal.
Also Federal Minister for Environment, Faisal added: "It will be first time
in my reign as PFF President that Pakistan will take on an Iranian team.
"Our players will learn a lot from Iran whose national team is one of the
strongest teams in Asia, currently second in Asia behind Japan. Iran was at
its peak once with 15th spot in FIFA World Rankings."
Pakistan's last international against them was seen in 10th Asian Cup
Qualifier 1992 which was arranged at Calcutta's Salt Lake Stadium, said
Faisal who himself will visit Indonesia for 14th Asian Football Cup 2007 to
perform duty for AFC Disciplinary Committee.
Indonesia is one of the four nations to organize the AFC's howpiece event
along with Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam from 7-29 July 2007.
The top-two teams from each of the seven groups of AFC U19 Championship
advance to the finals along with the best third-placed team.
Saudi Arabia qualifies automatically for the Finals which will be eld in
2008. All the matches will be played in one centralized venue hosted by one
country in the group.
Forty-two teams came out of pots and were divided into two zones, with each
zone being divided further into six technical levels based on the AFC Youth
Championship 2006 ranking.
The top-four finishers of AFC Youth Championship 2008 will advance to the
17th FIFA World Youth Championship 2009.
The groupings:
Group A: Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mongolia Group B:
Pakistan, Iran, India, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon Group C: Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Syria, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Bhutan
Group D: Jordan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Nepal, Palestine, Afghanistan Group E:
Japan, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Maldives, Chinese Taipei.
Group F: DPR Korea, China, Malaysia, Macau, Singapore, Timor Leste Group G:
Korea Republic, Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Guam
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