CIMB-YFA held

CIMB-YFA Held; First Loss for Project 2019

                                     

CIMB-YFA are confident of winning a place in the quarter-finals of the Champion of Champions 2012 despite being held to a scoreless draw by MyKids Kuala Lumpur Tuesday morning at the Gong Badak Field.

N. Radakrishnan, the Technical Director with CIMB-YFA said after the game that even though the team failed to score even a single goal today, still the performance was a lot better than when they thumped First Touch Pahang 5-0 in their first game in Group B yesterday.

“The heavy rain today affected play but we are still confident of making the quarter-finals,” said Radakrishnan. “Our target is to be in the semi-finals again this year. So tomorrow’s match against MyKids Terengganu will be important to see whether we can win the group.”

Following the draw today, CIMB-YFA are currently placed second in Group B behind MyKids Terengganu, who followed up their 3-1 over MyKids Kuala Lumpur yesterday with a 4-0 whitewashing of First Touch Pahang.

Only the best ranked eight teams at the end of the group stage tomorrow will advance to the quarter-finals on 7 Dec 2012.

In the meantime, the 10-year-olds from Project 2019 showed their quality when they prevented free-scoring MyKids Kedah from piling on the goals as they walked away with just a 1-0 loss.

Playing against physically bigger 12-year-old oppositions, the Project 2019 team conceded that one goal early in the second minute when Faez Mohamad slammed the lead for the side from the north. MyKids Kedah had begun their campaign this year with a 5-0 thrashing of MSS Terengganu yesterday.

Project 2019 defender Mohd Alias Alan, who hails from SMK Pasir Putih in Tawau, Sabah said size is not a hindrance.

“Although we are small in size, it does not matter. We believe we can play good football,” said Mohd Alias, who idolizes national captain Safiq Rahim. “I’m really proud to be part of this team as I have gained a lot of experience. I hope to play for Malaysia one day.”

On the other hand defending champions MyKids Perlis came back from their 1-1 draw against Sabah yesterday to completely overwhelmed Kiddo Kickers Melaka 9-0 with Wan Mohd Fitri grabbing a personal best with four goals in the 16th, 18th, 39^th and 42^nd minute.

Invited team Patriot Medan of Indonesia failed to stage a comeback as they had done yesterday when they fell to a 3-1 loss to Sabah.

GROUPINGS

GROUP A – MyKids Perlis, Sabah, Kiddo Kickers, Patriot Medan

GROUP B – MyKids Kuala Lumpur, MyKids Terengganu, CIMB-YFA, First Touch Pahang

GROUP C – MyKids Kedah, MSST, Project 2019, Negeri Sembilan

RESULTS

GROUP A:

Kiddo Kickers Melaka   0      MyKids Perlis              9             

Sabah                        3      Patriot Medan             1     

GROUP B:

CIMB YFA                   0      MyKids Kuala Lumpur   0     

Mykids Terengganu      4      First Touch Pahang      0     

GROUP C:

Project 2019               0      MyKids Kedah             1

MSS Terengganu         1      Negeri Sembilan          2

TOMORROW’S FIXTURES (5 Dec 2012)

GROUP A:

0800 - Patriot Medan vs MyKids Perlis            

0800 – Sabah vs Kiddo Kickers Melaka

GROUP B:

0800 - First Touch Pahang vs MyKids Kuala Lumpur 

0800 – Mykids Terengganu vs CIMB-YFA

GROUP C:

0915 – Negeri Smebilan vs MyKids Kedah      

0915 – MSS Terengganu vs Project 2019

Perlis held, bright start for Patriot Medan

                                    

Defending champions MyKids Perlis stuttered to a 1-1 draw against Sabah while Patriot Medan of Indonesia had a bright start when they came back from two goals down to beat Kiddo Kickers of Melaka 4-2 in the opening day of the Champion of Champions 2012 that was played Monday (3 Dec) at the Gong Badak Field.

The champions had gone into the game confidently but found Sabah a tough nut to crack even though they did score the opening goal early in the tenth minute through Adika Shauqi. But the visiting side from Borneo did not take too long to score the equalizer when Mohd Nasip found the back of the net in the 23^rd minute of play.

“The pressure was on us as we were the defending champion,” said Rosle Md Derus, the head coach of Perlis. “We had only 30% of the winning team from last year and that is why we struggled a bit. The understanding between the players is quite good but obviously, we have to improve from here.”

In the meantime, Patriot Medan showed that they have the quality to win the tournament this year when they overturned a two-goal deficit to beat Kiddo Kickers of Melaka 4-2.

Luqman Hakeem found the back of the net twice for Kiddo Kickers on 28^th and 32^nd minute before the side from Indonesia replied with the four goals.

Bobby Andriza grabbed a brace off goals in the 33^rd and 48^th minute to be followed by Aryo Pratomo (38^th minute) and Ragil Kurniawan (42^nd minute).

“The boys felt pressured at the start but in the second half, we told them to relax and just play with football as they usually do. And the result was that we won,” said an elated Medan head coach Syahril.

“It is good that we won the first game but there are two more matches to play and we have to concentrate. The players showed a lot of promise even though they have been together for just one month.”

Other notable results of the day were CIMB YFA demolishing First Touch Pahang 5-0 while MyKids Kedah were also on a romp when they thrashed MSS Terengganu with the same score line.

On the other hand, the Project 2019 boys had a positive start to their maiden appearance in the Champion of Champions when they held Negeri Sembilan to a 1-1 draw in their Group C tie.

Luqman Hakim’s strike in the 45^th minute cancelled out Aliff Shakirin Azmi’s lead for Negeri Sembilan just a minute earlier. What made the draw interesting was the fact that Project 2019 team featured players under the age of 10-years-old playing against players who are two years older.

GROUPINGS

GROUP A – MyKids Perlis, Sabah, Kiddo Kickers, Patriot Medan

GROUP B – MyKids Kuala Lumpur, MyKids Terengganu, CIMB-YFA, First Touch Pahang

GROUP C – MyKids Kedah, MSST, Project 2019, Negeri Sembilan

RESULTS

GROUP A:

MyKids Perlis              1      Sabah                        1

Kiddo Kickers Melaka   2      Patriot Medan             4

GROUP B:

MyKids Kuala Lumpur   1      Mykids Terengganu      3

CIMB YFA                   5      First Touch Pahang      0

GROUP C:

MyKids Kedah             5      MSS Terengganu         0

Projek 2019                1      Negeri Sembilan          1

TOMORROW’S FIXTURES (4 Dec 2012)

GROUP A:

0800 - Kiddo Kickers Melaka vs MyKids Perlis          

0915 – Sabah vs Patriot Medan    

GROUP B:

0800 - CIMB YFA vs MyKids Kuala Lumpur      

0915 – Mykids Terengganu vs First Touch Pahang   

GROUP C:

0800 - Projek 2019 vs MyKids Kedah     

0915 – MSS Terengganu vs Negeri Sembilan  

MGSKL Olympian Outreach Inspires Stdents

2012 marked the third consecutive year that MGSKL succeeded in organizing the Olympism Outreach Program (OOP).  The 3 day program held from October 31st to November 2nd was well accepted by the 14 year old students who participated in various activities which required them to work as a team.  

Since it's inception in 2010, Olympism has been a unique highlight of MGSKL.  It has managed to win over the hearts and minds of the principal and teachers of MGSKL and this year, other Olympism activities were organized including an Olympism week, an Olympic Exhibition leading up to the London Olympics and an in-training Olympism Workshop for teachers.

The Olympism Outreach Program this year was conducted by Ms. Tay Li Neo and Ms. Low Mai Keok and facilitated by the school's three Olympism Ambassadors; Low Jean Hwee, Arissa Jemaima Ikram and Xenia Clarissa Sebastian and several of the school teachers.

The first day of the program saw the students getting to know each other through various ice-breaker activities and later on forming eight groups of 10 student s from different races. from each class.  

Their first activity as a group was to name their team in honor of International and Malaysian athletes and to get to know more about their team members.  From there, Team Nicol, Team Daley, Team Pandalela, Team Chong Wei, Team Djokovich, Team Azizul, Team Bryan and Team Bolt were born.


The teams than gathered to watch a video on the Ancient Olympics and learn about "Ekecheiria" or the Olympic Truce before moving on to find out more information about the Modern Olympics and Baron Pierre de Coubertin in the computer lab via the internet.  As the computer lab could not fit all 80 students, the eight teams were divided into 3 sets of groups to complete the other two tasks which were to create and design their team flag and motto and having a group discussion that revolved about sports that could have been played in the ancient Olympics.

The day ended with each group presenting their flags and a briefing of the next day's activities that were to take place outdoors in Lake Gardens.


A fun filled day was in store for the participants on Day 2.  The "Puteri Gunung Ledang" Teamwork in Action activity always managed to get some quizzical remarks by the participants as to how they should execute their tasks.  Teams were instructed to bring various things like an egg, a pail and a musical instrument but were not told why they had to bring them.  The main objective of the activity was to move from point A to point B in a group while fulfilling each role according to the set rules.  This activity tested the teams’ ability to strategize and work together in order to achieve their goal.

In essence, all activities organized were very closely related to a student's everyday life and values that a student should possess.  On the other hand, the program also aimed to unearth leaders amongst the pack.

After a short break following an exhilarating "Puteri Gunung Ledang" Teamwork in Action activity, each team was given a short inspiring story of an athlete who displayed outstanding achievements practicing the values of Olympism.  The teams read and discussed the story and later acted it out in front of everyone.  


To complete the day, the students were introduced to the sport of "Ultimate Frisbee" where they learnt the basic skills, rules and format of the game.  The eagerness and excitement of the students showed brightly on their faces when they passed the disc from one another shouting out their names and laughing when they couldn’t throw or catch the disc properly.

The third and final day activities tested the students’ collective innovation, creativeness and imagination.  Each team was given a stack of newspaper, masking tape and a bottle of 1.5 liter soft drink.  With the items given, they were told to build a structure strong enough to withstand the weight of the bottle and at the same time able to place a pair of shoes under it.   It was interesting to observe the teams communicated and planned their structure design.  Team Djokovich emerged with a ingenious and solid structure that didn’t only withstood the bottle of 1.5 liter soft drink but could also take the weight of a person.


The Olympism Ambassadors were up next as they presented the Olympic Symbols.  Jean Hwee, Xenia and Arissa each delivered one or two Olympic Symbols namely the rings, the torch relay, the motto and the creed.

After recess, the teams were given 40 minutes to rehearse for their cultural performance which had to incorporate the elements of sports and Olympism.  The cultural performance were then witnessed and judged by the principal, Pn. Phoon Yoke Meng and Ms. Low Mai Keok.  Team Daley outshined the rest with their choral speaking rendition of Olympism and Malaysian athletes which they whipped out in that 40 minutes.  



At the end of the program, one outstanding student who displayed leadership qualities, expressed and discussed ideas well with her group and demonstrated the ability to speak confidently in front of the crowd will be nominated.  Raenuga from Team Daley, Priyanka from Team Djokovich and Hafnie from Team Nicole were shortlisted and finally the coordinators, teachers and facilitators chose Raenuga as she showed more eagerness and curiosity towards Olympism and initiative when it came to group discussions.

Prizes were awarded to the best team in the “Puteri Gunung Ledang” Teamwork in Action activity, the most sturdy newspaper structure, and the best cultural performance.  Pn. Phoon closed the program with a speech that reminded the students to practice the values of Olympism and that the sky is the limit for each and every one of them.


MGSKL is moving forward strongly with Olympic Education and are in the process of making their very own Olympic Education handbook.  The three 15 year old Olympism Ambassadors that were nominated have shown outstanding commitment to promoting Olympism in school and they will be conducting their own “Introduction to Olympism” program to the Form 1 students next year. 

 They are mentoring eight aboriginal students in the school; introducing them to sports and other curricular activities like music and helping them in their studies as well as improving their English language.  Each one of the Olympism Ambassadors excel differently in MGSKL; Jean Hwee, captain of the school band and School Exemplary Student 2011, Arissa, a long distance runner who participates in various local and international competitions held in Malaysia while Xenia represents the state of Kuala Lumpur in Artistic Gymnastics. 

Two of them will eventually be selected to represent MGSKL to the 9th International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (CIPC) Youth Session in Oslo, Norway next year.  This will be the second time MGSKL will be participating in the CIPC Youth Session as an observer school.  

*To find our more about activities organized by Methodist Girls’ School Kuala Lumpur, visit www.mgskl.edu.my and their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Senior-Methodist-Girls-School-KL. 

10 best goals of the year

The race to determine the winner of the FIFA Puskás Award for the “best goal of the year” has started today, 14 November 2012, on FIFA.com. Fans from across the world will decide which of the ten goals selected by FIFA’s football experts will be the winner of this award.

Videos of the ten goals, as well as the list of scorers and the voting tool, can be found here:http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/puskasaward/index.html 

Users of FIFA.com and francefootball.fr will be able to choose from ten goals until 29 November when the three goals with the most votes will be disclosed during a press conference in São Paulo. Immediately after the announcement on 29 November, FIFA.com and francefootball.fr users will be able to vote again for their favourite from the three remaining goals. The winner will be revealed on the day of the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala on 7 January 2013. Voting will close during the show.

The FIFA Puskás Award, created in honour and in memory of Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, will be presented for the fourth year in a row at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala 2012, which will be held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich.

During a televised show, the winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the best player of 2012 as well as the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year 2012 will also be revealed. Meanwhile, the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football award will be presented for the third time. The FIFA FIFPro World XI, the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented during the gala.

For more information on the FIFA Ballon d’Or, please see: http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/index.html 

Are you interested?

 

 

 

 

No 6 in Iran

The Malaysian Schools U-18 team ended their participation in the Asian Schools Football Championship by being the sixth team in the tournament that saw 10 teams participating. The tournament was held in Tehran from 16-26 October 2012.

In the fight for fifth and sixth place, the National Schools team drew 1-1  with Indonesia but lost 3-2 on penalty.

The team were led by coaches from the Ministry of Education.

Other results for Malaysia:
Malaysia 0 Thailand 2
Hong Kong 2 Malaysia 2
Malaysia 4 Brunei 0
China 1 Malaysia 1.
Malaysia 1 Indonesia 1 (Indonesia won 3-2 on penalty)

Hattrick of doubles for Norshahrul

 Kelantan striker Norshahrul Idlan Talaha made it a historic hat-trick of ‘double’ titles when he again emerged victorious in the 100PLUS-Astro Arena-FAM National Football Awards 2012 in Shah Alam, Wednesday (30/10/12)..

The Terengganu-born striker had won his first double in 2010 with wins in the Best Striker and Most Valuable Player award after moving from UPB-MyTeam. And the 26-year-old followed it up with his second double last year following a late surge in the second half of the season.

And this year, with his two goals in the final of the Malaysia Cup, there was no doubt as to who is the king inside the six-yard box.

“The win could not have come at a better time than when I’m expecting the delivery of my first born,” said Norshahrul. “So I’m very happy with these double awards. I have to thank everyone who voted for me and of course to 100PLUS for their continued support of Malaysian footballers.”

In the meantime, Kelantan goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat cemented his position as the national No. 1 when he picked up his third Best Goalkeeper award in three years.

“At the moment, my focus is with the national team for the AFF Suzuki Cup, so winning this award for the third time in a row is validation of all the hardwork that I’ve put in through the season,” added Khairul Fahmi.

Other than Norshahrul and Khairul, the Kelantan FA also took home the award for the Best Football Association.

The other big winner on the day was ATM where apart from winning the accolade for the Best Fan Club, they also had in Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak winning the Best Defender and Best Coach for B. Sathiananthan. Striker Marlon Alex James picked up the award for the Best Foreign Player.

Incidentally, both Aidil and Sathiananthan last won the awards in 2010 when they were with Negeri Sembilan and Kelantan respectively.

“I have to thank my players and the Armed Forces set-up for this award. It is the same as the first time when I won this award (in 2010), teamwork is the key to success and it must be supplemented with good management,” added Sathiananthan.

“I’m honoured to have worked with great set-ups, first Kelantan and now with the Armed Forces.”

The other winners on the day were Safiq Rahim from Selangor for the Best Midfielder award and Mohd Rozaimi Abdul Rahman from Sabah for the Most Promising Player category.

The award for the Best Club went to Sime Darby FC while Mohd Nafeez Abdul Wahab won for Best Referee.

At the same ceremony too, special awards were given out to the Ministry of Education in recognition of their contribution to youth development through the Minister of Education League Cup and also to Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Minhat, Malaysia’s Raja Bola who passed away recently.

  

My testimony and healing

I would like to continue to write about the healing that I received and hope it will be a blessing to you guys our there. By writing this I don't mean to put anybody down because I believe every one is doing his or best. But this is my story.

After surgery, I discovered that they has put some tubes to assist me in urinating. I asked why and they said that during surgery thy felt that my urine was slow, maybe got problem. I told them I din not eat or drink much for almost four days, how to expect urine to flow normally. Anyway, that what the text books says and I have to leave with it for 14 days.

On the 14th day, I was given an appointment to see the radiologist who would do test to see if there are blockages and so on. After 10 minutes the doctor said every thing is clear. I said to him, I told you that 14 days ago.

The next day was another appointment in the Urologi Clinic to remove the tubes. But the doctor said his room was to small to do that and he suggested that I come on Saturday, three days away, and there they would make sure that one the tubes are out, no emergencies would happen.

I was not happy with the statement but since its sort of prevention, I said should be ok. So the the tubes were hanging on me for almost 17 days.

On Saturday, I arrived for the procedure to remove the tubes. At the reception I was told that I had to come one week later. Why? Because they were polishing the ward and no bed to put me on, even for a few hours. The lady at the reception was adamant that I should go back because the bosses don' want people hanging around at the reception.

I said sorry, you people gave me this date. I sat there with my wife and a friend and prayed. After an hour, I asked the lady to call the ward again. She did, reluctantly. And there was silence as suddenly an attendant came and took me up. There was a bed available.

My friend. God works at reception counter of hospital also. In the ward the doctors did some test, told me to urine and they wanted to scan to see if the urine is cleared. The doctor did not know how to use the scan machine so they called some nurses who said said "clear". I said, I told you that 17 days ago.

Than came the time to remove the tubes. I was told only the doctor-supervisor has authority to do that and he was not to be seen. The staffs searched for him and - hopefully he was at an emergency somewhere - he asked who is there is the ward. They answered, a trainee doctor. He said ask the trainee doctor to remove. I wonder what happened to the authority part.

Anyway, as I said, everything is good because God is in charge of me. I would like to write some more about this process. The reason I want to write is I discovered that the mention of God moves the doctor away. There are not interested to heard about God having healed.

I have no problems with the procedures and text books and so on. But, always remember there is a God above.

I will write some more but two days ago, as I was sharing with a friend my experiences, he said this to me: "The symbol for medicine used to Red Cross. Now it's a snake and a bowl. What happened?"

Oops... I don't know. To be continued with......

Sathia and Bojan

I must congratulate my friend B. Sathianathan and his Armed Forces players for their fine run in the 2012 Malaysia Cup competition. They lost 2-3 to Kelantan in the final match on Saturday (20/10/12) but they were certainly the better team. Once again, congratulations to Sathia.

I have known Sathia for a long and know how passionate he is with his job. I wish him all the best as he prepares for next year's competition where his team will be in the Super League. This year they won the Premier League, a target given to Sathia by his employers.

I also would like to congratulate Boyan Hodak for motivating and inspiring his team to win the final. Boyan has been around in Malaysia for some time but I have never been close to him.

But, it looks like we would be good friends from now. At the post match media conference, he said this to me: "Please update your blog. I hate it when you don't do it."

Well, I will try to do my best, but please remember I am no expert like the other writers. 

Sathia, Boyan and the rest of the coaches should also be commended for making the season sucessful. 

Sathia has confirmed continuing with ATM while Boyan will go on a vacation while waiting for news from Kelantan.

All the best guys!

Miracles do happen

Its been a long time since I updated this pages. Some of you may know what happen, some may not know but let me give a brief summary of the miracles I received from God. In August this year I began to feel something was not right. I was having difficulty talking,  my right hand could not  work well.

My wife took me for a check-up and the doctors said I had a tumour outside the brains that was pressing against the nerves and that why is happening and they asked that surgery be done. 

The surgery its self was a miracle, with all the Professors, including their boss were present. I was on the table for six hours but the doctors operate for two hours only.

One hour after I woke up I saw the surgeons coming into my room and I said: "Thank you doctor, I am well." The surgeons panicked, "hey you are supposed to be asleep and can only speak after two days." Well, sorry doc, that's not God's plans for me.

I asked for food. The nurses panicked.  "Can you eat now?" , they asked. Why not. And they gave me some drinks and soft food while telling me to be careful.

After five days I wanted to go back and they were looking for excuses not to allow me to go, but finally the good professor said, "you are doing very well, home and recover." and on 12 September 2012, I came back to work.

I have been following the happenings in Sports and once I settle all that follow-up treatments, I plan to update this blog regularly.

I thank God for, for the recovery and the miracles. I know that this happened because the Lord wants me to take a break and refresh and receive fresh anointing to do the things I have to do. I said break because there was no pain in the whole procedure, I did not even have to finish the pain killers they gave. 

I wish to say thank you to my friends who visited me, prayed for me and stood by me. I appreciate all that you have done.
Thank you again. Remember, God is above al things, including hospitals.

IFAB makes three unanimous historic decisions

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) convened at the Home of FIFA in Zurich today, 5 July 2012, for a Special Meeting under the chairmanship of FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

The first item on the agenda was goal-line technology (GLT). Following the conclusion of a nine-month test process that began in August 2011, led by EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology), the IFAB unanimously decided to approve in principle both companies that took part in Test Phase 2: GoalRef and Hawk-Eye. This approval is subject to a final installation test at each stadium before the systems can be used in “real” football matches, in accordance with the FIFA Quality Programme for GLT.

The IFAB was keen to stress that technology will only be utilised for the goal line and for no other areas of the game.

Revisions to the wording of specific Laws of the Game will now consequently be made, relating to: Law 1 (The Field of Play); Law 2 (The Ball); Law 5 (The Referee); and Law 10 (The Method of Scoring).

The second decision of the IFAB concerned additional assistant referees (AAR) following a two-year experiment in the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and EURO 2012, as well as the AFC President’s Cup and competitions in Brazil, France, Morocco and Qatar.

Following a presentation by the AAR Experiment Coordinator, Donald McVicar, the IFAB again unanimously agreed that the use of two additional assistant referees be approved, acknowledging the support they can provide in officiating football matches.

As a result of this decision, an amendment will be made to the Laws of the Game, with a separate section concerning additional assistant referees. It was also approved that communication equipment be permitted between match officials in the Laws of the Game.

The third main topic for discussion concerned Law 4 – The Players’ Equipment, and specifically the “headscarf”.

The IFAB agreed to unanimously approve – temporarily during a trial period – the wearing of headscarves. The design, colour and material permitted will be defined and confirmed following the IFAB Annual Business Meeting in Glasgow in October.

Currently there is no medical literature concerning injuries as a result of wearing a headscarf, and therefore the decision taken today will be reviewed at the IFAB Annual General Meeting in 2014.

In other matters, the IFAB confirmed that the Annual Business Meeting will further discuss the issue of “triple punishment”, currently detailed in Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct; Sending-off Offences), and also agreed to discuss further how the IFAB can improve consultation with the game.

The decisions concerning the Laws of the Game taken today regarding GLT and AAR by the IFAB will come into effect immediately.

The 127^th Annual General Meeting will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland on 1-2 March 2013.

We have been impressed.

Tuesday, 03 July 2012 17:47

AFC Club and Futsal Director Stuart Ramalingam congratulated Chinese Football Association (CFA) and China Super League (CSL) for the improvement in the clubs not only in the local game but also at the continental level. Speaking at the end of a Special Mission Team’s inspection visit to China on Sunday, Ramalingam highlighted the progress which had gone beyond the clubs in China. “We have been impressed by the direction of the CFA and CSL to guide club competitions in China. “The re-assessment of the Chinese clubs has assured us on the positive growth in the different areas relating to the AFC Champions League criteria.” The SMT’s work in China concluded with a meeting with the CFA and CSL delegations in CFA’s headquarters in Beijing Sunday morning after travelling to Dalian, Qindao and Shanghai for the inspections. CFA Vice President and CSL Chairman Yu Hongchen, CFA General Secretary Wei Di and CFA Deputy General Secretary Liu Dianqiu were present during the meeting. Liu Dianqiu said: “The AFC team showed their support during the inspection. They demonstrated that they did not come here to disqualify but to assist our clubs to meet the criteria.” During the closing press conference, Ramalingam, Head of the SMT, informed the media of the purpose of the inspection and the process of making decisions afterwards. “We noticed positive growth,” he said. “Obviously, the CFA has put lots of efforts to attend to their previously weak areas and shown tremendous progress to achieve higher valuation in the ACL slot allocations.” In 2012, Beijing Guoan, Tianjin Teda and Guangzhou Evergrande were the Chinese representatives in the group stage in the continent's premier club championship with Guangzhou Evergrande advancing to the two-legged quarterfinal matches against Al Itthihad of Saudi Arabia which will start on September 19, the first Chinese club to reach the quarterfinal since 2006.