Brazil beckons for Pakistan’s street kid footballers

Mohammad Salman (second right) running with other street children during football training camp in Karachi for the forthcoming Street Child World Cup in Brazil. PHOTO:AFP

KARACHI: Sixteen-year-old Mohammad Salman thought he was destined to live his life on the mean streets of Karachi, addicted to drugs, begging for survival and with no prospects for a better future.

Now he is set to represent Pakistan in the second edition of the Street Child World Cup which starts in Brazil this week.

“In my past life I was like a street urchin, using drugs, running away from school and studies. I was an addict,” said Salman, who left home at age 13 after fighting with his parents.

“We didn’t know what we were doing and what we should do. I was staying away from home.” Salman’s salvation came after he was spotted by the non-profit Azad Foundation that rehabilitates street children in the sprawling Pakistani metropolis of 18 million.

“They helped develop my interest in football,” he said. “I’m excited to be part of the Street Child World Cup.” The Amos Trust, a British non-profit organisation, convinced football’s governing body FIFA to initiate the Street Child World Cup in 2010.

The first edition was held in South Africa ahead of the 2010 World Cup and featured Brazil, South Africa, Nicaragua, Ukraine, India, the Philippines, Tanzania and a team from England.

India won the inaugural event, which proved so successful that it was decided to hold it ahead of every football World Cup.

The second edition will be hosted by Rio de Janeiro from Friday until April 6.

Rocks for goalpost

Owais Ali, another former street child, said football has earned him respect.

“When I was living in the street, no one treated me with respect; I did not know anything as I was illiterate,” said Owais, who like Salman comes from Karachi’s troubled Orangi town, a shanty settlement.

“I was confused once I left home and the city was full of problems for me. Then I found a way through Azad Foundation which supported me and helped me in my studies.

“Now I am in the ninth grade. After I started football I found new friends and now people respect me.” The seven-a-side Street Child World Cup, to be held in the football’s spiritual heartland, represents a far cry from roadside matches in Karachi with rocks used for goal posts.

Away from the pitch, organisers plan to host celebrity guests, a youth participation conference and exhibits featuring Brazilian artists.

Getting Pakistan a place in the tournament gave the children a tangible goal to work toward, said Iftan Maqbool of the Azad Foundation.

“It has turned out to be a worthwhile exercise and now our goal is to earn recognition for Pakistan,” he said.

According to the Foundation, Karachi is home to roughly 200,000 street children, many of whom fall into gangs linked to political parties engaged in a bloody battle for control over the city.

Coach Abdul Rasheed admitted the task of motivating children from such troubled backgrounds was sometimes challenging.

“It was tough when we first threw a football at them,” said Rasheed. “They were not consistent in their efforts but we kept our mission and regrouped these kids into a team,” he said.

“We have worked hard on these kids as others before going to Brazil and the aim is to fight for the trophy as well as for recognition.”

David Beckham unveils proposal for waterfront Miami football stadium

This image courtesy of Miami Beckham United shows an artist rendering of a proposed stadium for a Major League Soccer (MLS) team backed by retired English soccer star David Beckham of the group's preferred location for the arena seated in between Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami, Florida. PHOTO: REUTERS

MIAMI: A group led by English football star David Beckham unveiled plans on Monday to build a 25,000-seat soccer stadium on Miami’s waterfront for the Major League Soccer team he will own, but the proposal is already facing some opposition.

The open-air stadium would be built in an area known as PortMiami, which hosts the world’s busiest cruise ship terminal. Long-term plans for the island port have never included the possibility of being home to a sports arena, port officials have said.

PortMiami Director Bill Johnson declined to comment on the stadium proposal. Royal Caribbean Cruises, whose headquarters are located at the port, has expressed concern about the proposed stadium, citing traffic concerns and its own plans to develop the land the Beckham group hopes to lease for the stadium.

“We have shared our serious reservations about the suitability of PortMiami as a location for a stadium,” Cynthia Martinez, Royal Caribbean’s director for global corporate communications, wrote in an e-mail on Monday.

Development of the 36-acre (14.5 hectare) stadium site would cost about $200 million and include shops, hotels and offices connected to the mainland by a pedestrian bridge, according to John Alschuler, Beckham’s New York-based real-estate adviser.

Beckham’s group is not looking for public financing, but must negotiate site plans with Miami-Dade County. “The funding is in place,” Alschuler told reporters. “The goal is to have a team playing by 2016.”

Since Beckham signaled interest in establishing a Major League Soccer team in Miami, the league has stressed the importance of having a final stadium deal, along with a business plan, before it will approve a new team.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star retired as a player last May with a $25 million option in his MLS contract to start a new franchise.

Beckham in February finalised an ownership group with American Idol creator Simon Fuller and Bolivian-born billionaire Marcelo Claure, founder of Miami-based Brightstar Corp, the world’s largest wireless distributor and the provider of global services to Apple Inc.

Bangladesh moves to ban Jamaat-e-Islami

File photo of people protesting against war crimes in Bangladesh. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE.

DHAKA: Bangladesh war crimes investigators moved on Tuesday to outlaw the country’s largest Islamic party, accusing it of genocide and other atrocities during the 1971 struggle for independence.

Government investigators handed a report detailing war crimes allegations against  to prosecutors, in the latest move against the party which has banned from contesting January elections.

“We want total dissolution of the party,” the government’s chief war crimes investigator Abdul Hannan Khan told reporters.

“Jamaat and its wings took the decision to act as auxillary forces of the Pakistani army in committing atrocities in the 1971 war. So the party cannot avoid its superior responsibilities,” Hannan said.

Hannan said prosecutors from the country’s controversial war crimes tribunal would now proceed with charges against the party which would lead to a trial in the same tribunal.

“The whole nation has been waiting for this trial. It is the first time after the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials that a party is to be prosecuted for war crimes,” Hannan said, comparing Jamaat to the Nazi party.

The tribunal, set up by the secular government in 2010, has already convicted more than a dozen of Jamaat’s leaders over crimes allegedly committed during Bangladesh’s war against Pakistan for independence.

A senior Jamaat leader was executed in December after his conviction, sparking a fresh wave of deadly protests by Islamist supporters.

Protesters have repeatedly clashed with police over the tribunal, which Islamists claim is aimed at eradicating its leaders, leaving more than 200 people dead since last January when the verdicts were first handed down.

Jamaat, a leading opposition party, was banned from contesting general elections held in January this year which were boycotted by other opposition parties and marred by bloodshed.

The country’s top court ruled last August that Jamaat be banned because its charter followed Islamic law that conflicted with the nation’s official secular constitution, although the party was allowed to hold rallies.

There was no immediate comment from Jamaat but the party has earlier accused the country’s government of organising show trials in an effort to destroy it.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government says three million people died in the war, many at the hands of pro-Pakistan militias led by Jamaat leaders who opposed secession from Pakistan on religious grounds.

Independent researchers put the death toll between 300,000 and 500,000 people.

Outlook: Faisalabad hopes for a brighter, ‘power’ full future

Textile exports, which stood at $13.1 billion in fiscal year 2012-13, would cross $14 billion at the end of the current fiscal year 2013-14, according to textile experts. PHOTO: FILE

FAISALABAD: After five years of uncertainty, Faisalabad’s top industrialists are poised to make new investments — both for the purpose of expansion and to reap the benefits of the pro-industry policies of the new government.

For them it was the first winter season after years when their factories ran on optimal capacity due to uninterrupted supply of gas for most of the season, which was ensured by the federal government.

Businessmen in the country’s third largest city hope to cash opportunities through the 10-year duty free access to European markets and the possibility of trade normalisation with India, giving textile exporters one billion new customers.

Textile exports, which stood at $13.1 billion in fiscal year 2012-13, would cross $14 billion at the end of the current fiscal year 2013-14, according to textile experts.

Millions of rupees are being invested, which will fetch foreign exchange and also create thousands of new jobs.

Tanveer Yousaf, Yousaf Weaving Mills Faisalabad chief executive officer, who has recently invested to build a new factory, told The Express Tribune that Pakistan has great potential. He added that the country needed production at its fullest to meet international orders.

He added that the current government seemed to have pro-business policies, pointing out that in the first nine months of its tenure, gas kept flowing to the industries which boosted confidence.

During the last five years, thousands of employees were laid off by millers that also contributed to increasing crime rate in the city.

In the past five years, new investments were made in allied industries like printing, dyeing, weaving and processing due to the slowdown of the textile industry, said textile exporters. The industrialists are now satisfied with the friendly behaviour of the current government, they added.

Mian Sahid, another industrialist, said that he had to shut down his units in the winter season due to prolonged gas cuts. However, the decision to restore gas supply to the industry this winter season has revived the industry’s confidence.

After the Chinese decided to move out of the weaving sector, international buyers turned to Pakistan. This is the time to capture the huge potential of international buyers by exporting gray fabric.

Overhaul: Samsung redistributes distribution network

Samsung decided to split its distribution network in two regions to fix the loopholes in the company’s distribution network, the officials said. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

KARACHI: In response to customer needs in the ever-growing electronics industry in Pakistan, Samsung Electronics Company Limited has overhauled its distribution network. The South Korean technology giant has appointed multiple distributors for Northern and Southern regions as it plans to expand its sales in the country.

“Pakistan is a very big market and for a brand like Samsung, it was important to have two distributors to justify the needs of customers,” MRM Traders’ Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Rauf Moosa said in a press conference at Mövenpick Hotel on Monday while making a formal announcement about MRM’s appointment as a distributor of Samsung’s consumer electronics business.

Samsung decided to split its distribution network in two regions to fix the loopholes in the company’s distribution network, the officials said. It, therefore, appointed two new distributors. The move came in response to the issues the company had been facing because of a single distributor, according to the official.

“The previous distributor was not working on the product’s potential,” Moosa said, while responding to a question. With the new setup, he said the aim is to double the sales.

MRM will be managing distribution and after-sale services for Samsung’s electronics business – excluding mobile phones – in the Southern region that covers Sindh and Balochistan. The sales and distribution for North and Central business will be looked after by Smart Zone.

The decision is in line with the global trends, Moosa said, whereby every big brand operating in a large market adopts multiple distributors to expand the business.

“We’ll open 20 after-sale service centers in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Quetta,” Moosa said, adding the company is also planning to expand its manufacturing facility located in SITE industrial area.

The changes in Samsung’s distribution model come at a time when the company is planning to introduce a whole range of new products sometime in the first half of fiscal 2015.

The Korean technology giant is going to introduce an upgraded version of its smart TV range, according to officials. “We’ll provide a much advance technology for our new products and at the same time reduce the prices of smart TV dramatically so everyone can afford this product,” Moosa said.

The company previously faced complaints regarding after-sale service centers. To this, Moosa said, there were now five service centers in Karachi to deal with customers as opposed to the only two service centers the company previously had.

The officials said the new setup of multiple distributors would help the company expand its product reach.

“I believe MRM is ready to deliver good services across Sindh,” the company’s Business Manager for Consumer Electronics HD Lee said.

Dzeko, Torres and Sagna could join Inter, admits Thohir

The Nerazzurri president insists he is ready to splash out on a new midfielder or striker this summer and says the Arsenal full-back's destiny is in his own hands

Inter president Erick Thohir has revealed that Fernando Torres, Edin Dzeko and Bacary Sagna could all join the Nerazzurri this summer.

Torres is widely expected to be sold by Chelsea at the end of this season and is a target for Atletico Madrid, while Dzeko has been told he can leave Manchester City in search of regular first-team football abroad and Sagna, whose current contract expries this summer, has yet to commit himself to a new deal with Arsenal.

	CHELSEA LATEST
11/1	Chelsea are 11/1 with Bet365 to win the Champions League

Inter have already signalled their intent to re-model their squad for next season with the signing of Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic on a free transfer. 

Club director Piero Ausilio hinted earlier this month thatwage demands would make any move for Torres or Dzeko difficult, but Thohir insists he is ready to splash out on a new striker.

"We'll go to great expense for a striker or a midfielder," he told Gazzetta Dello Sport. "I heard the names of Torres, [Alvaro] Morata and Dzeko. It's possible that one of them will come in.

"We like Sagna, but his future depends only on him."

When asked if Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o could be in line for a return to the San Siro, Thohir joked: "We need a striker who is not too young nor too old."

Messi treble is perfect order for Martino's last-chance saloon

The majestic attacker was the saviour as his compatriot stared down the barrel of an early exit from the Spanish title race

COMMENT
By Kris Voakes | International Football Correspondent

When it comes to Clasico football, there has never been anyone like Lionel Messi. And as the world wakes up to the morning after the blockbusting night before, Tata Martino will be celebrating that fact more than anyone.

The Argentine coach admitted that his Barcelona side faced a make-or-break moment in their title assault away to Real Madrid on Sunday night, and for long spells it seemed his worst fears would be realised. But Messi’s mesmerising show kept his compatriot dreaming of a Liga crown and an invite to continue in his job beyond this summer.

"This is the last chance we have. In the final rounds teams don't falter so often"

"This is the last chance we have," admitted Martino in his pre-match press conference. "After this round there are nine games left and cutting the gap to one point is not the same as it remaining four or even stretching to seven. In these final rounds teams don't falter so often."

And he was right. Moreover, a failure to win La Liga would more than likely see him shown the door. As such, Sunday’s game was monumental for Martino. But for as long as he remains in his current role, he will always have the ace up his sleeve that is Lionel Messi.

There can be no denying that things have been a little different at Barcelona this season. They are no longer considered the most fearful outfit in Europe, sit in third place in the Spanish league, and there have even been huge question marks about the club’s ethics in the midst of the Neymar affair. Tactical and technical shortcomings also appear more obvious, more prevalent, than in recent years.

But one thing that remains the same is the genius of Messi. Sure, two of his goals in the 4-3 win at the Bernabeu came from the penalty spot, but he deserved every bit of the magnificent hat-trick which sent him into the record books as the highest goalscorer in the world’s greatest footballing rivalry.

Martino had seemingly made a number of poor decisions, most notably the one which gave Neymar a starting shirt despite his current rut. Alexis Sanchez – the match-winner in the previous Clasico – has been in infinitely better form of late, while Pedro’s guile and skill was also sadly lacking. The Argentine had gone for the big-name option and looked set to pay the price.

With Barca trailing 2-1, Messi made his first great intervention by pouncing on a loose ball in the area and lashing home beyond Diego Lopez. After the break, he would hit two unstoppable penalties to reverse a second one-goal deficit. But it wasn’t just in his goals that he made the difference.

MAGICAL MESSI IN NUMBERS

	374	TOTAL BARCA GOALS
	347	COMPETITIVE BARCA GOALS
	400	TOTAL COMPETITIVE GOALS
	21	GOALS IN CLASICOS
	34	GOALS IN 2013-14

In general play, the No.10 was simply magic at times. It was his vision and pass which opened the space up for Andres Iniesta to give the Blaugrana an early lead. His sensational through-ball to Neymar took out three Madrid players as the Brazilian won a penalty.

Messi was the man making all the right moves in between the lines as the home defence was pulled out of shape. Had Neymar been on his game, the Argentine’s movement alone might have contributed to at least two more goals.

Barcelona’s current position in La Liga is proof enough that this hasn’t been their best campaign in recent memory, and Martino’s position will rightly continue to be questioned right down to the final day of the season. But Sunday night was just the latest reminder that it is Messi – not Martino – who will dictate whether the boss is back for a second stint next term.

The coach's future couldn't be in better hands.