Lahore, 24 Jan: Two long range drives paved the way for Lyari Town to clinch PFF-KESC Lyari Football League 2011 at Karachi’s Peoples Sports Complex on Monday. With 60-40 possession, they edged out Singolane 4-1 in the final.
Syed Khadim Ali Shah, SVP of SAFF and VP of PFF, was chief guest of the match who presented Champion Lyari Town, Runner up Singolane, bronze-medallist Bihar prizes of Rs. One lac, 50,000 and 25,000 respectively besides Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.
He also asked Lyari Town’s skipper Muneer Aftab to take winning trophy from People’s Peace Committee Chairman Sardar Uzair Jan Baloch while PFF`s General Secretary Lt. Col ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi presented runner up trophy to Singolane captain Nauman Noor. Also present on this occasion were PFF`s Director Marketing and Event Management Sardar Naveed Haider Khan, KESC Head of Sports Marketing Muhammad Zabe Khan, former Pakistani skipper Ali Nawaz, People’s Peace Committee President and Atlanta Olympics international Shahid Rahman and spokesman Zafar Baloch.
The final turned out to be one-way traffic. Pakistan U14 Team skipper and midfielder Muneer Aftab landed opener in the 8th minute with right footed drive from 50-yards. But hardly ten minutes had elapsed Singo’s winger Idrees Rehman reduced the arrears, making it 1-1. Lyari Town regained advantage when another long range drive from 35 metre from Osama Raza saw ball hitting the cross piece and dropped behind Singo keeper Usama. LT consolidated the lead in the dying minutes of first half through Muneer Ahmed after left wing build up. Winger Zohaib rounded off the tally in the 44th minute.
Karachi, Earlier, Bihar collected third spot by beating Kalakot 1-0 at Kalakot’s Shaheed Abdul Rehman Park, Lyari Town, Karachi.
The lone goal of third position match was scored by Bihar’s striker Amjad Hussain in the third minute. Bihar’s Muhammad Junaid was voted Man of the Match and took handsome Shield from PIA-based Imran Abdullah who played for Pakistan in AFC Festivals at Bangladesh 2005 and Islamabad 2006 besides 13th AFC U16 Championship Qualifiers at Qatar 2007.
While talking on this occasion, Sardar Uzair praised the efforts of PFF and KESC for launching such a event for Lyari at Grass Root level. “it is important to encourage and support the talent pool in Lyari. There is huge potential in the players of Lyari and Lyarities appreciated Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat`s initiative to tap into this talent for the betterment of football in the country.” Uzair also congratulated Faisal Saleh Hayat for becoming first Pakistani ever to have been elected to the prestigious post of AFC Executive Committee during 24th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress in Doha, Qatar.
Lyari Town, known as a football hotbed in Pakistan, and eleven U14 Union Councils of Lyari Town namely UC-01 (Agra Taj), UC-02 (Daryabad), UC-03 (Nayabad) UC-04 (Khada), UC-05 (Baghdadi), UC-06 (Kalri), UC-07 (Bihar Colony), UC-8 (Rangiwara), UC-09 (Singolane), UC-10 (Kalakot) and UC-11 (Nawalane) and four outstation outfits Hub, Winder Gaddani, Uthal and Bela completed the numbers for 16-team show. Muneer Aftab was voted Player of the Event and took handsome Shield and Rs. 15,000 from Khadim Shah.
The 16-team event, consuming 17 days, saw the elimination of Hub, Nawalane, Daryabad and Baghdadi in the quarter-final stage while eight teams saying good bye to event earlier were Rangiwara, Nayabad, Kalri, Winder , Uthal, Agra, Bela and Khadda who failed to impress soccer fans in League. The final was supervised by Javed Bangash, assisted by Fareed Ahmed, Shahid Ismail and 4th Official Dad Rehman under Match Commissioner Yaqoob Baloch.
Final Position: 1.Lyari Town 2. Singolane 3. Bihar 4. Kalakot 5. Nawalane 6. Bihar 7. Baghdadi 8. Daryabad 9. Rangiwara 10. Kalri 11. Uthal 12. Agra Taj 13. Winder 14. Bela 15. Khada 16. Nayabad