Aspire Qatar hold Kashima
Friday, 13 January 2012 01:42
Actions from Group A match between Aspire Qatar (white) and Kashima Antlers Japan (left) and Group B match between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), during Al Kass International Cup U-17 at Aspire Zone yesterday. Shaival Dalal
Doha: Aspire Qatar yesterday drew (1-1) with Japanese club Kashima Antlers in the Al Kass International Cup Under-17 tournament at the Aspire Zone, while PSG held Barcelona 0-0 in the second match.
During the first half, Aspire-Qatar fully exploited Kashima Antler’s conservative playing strategy to get ahead. The Japanese with seven points in three games, and who have already secured a place in the semi-finals, focused on the defensive, leaving the mid-field clear for the competition.
Kohei Horinouchi of the Antlers scored the first and only goal for his team in the 18th minute, slightly encouraging the Antlers to come out of their defence zone. Aspire-Qatar were able to penetrate Kashima’s defence zone dozens of times, but all in vain.
Soloman Udo scored in the 64th minute with a penalty kick that allowed the Aspire-Qatar coach Paul Nevin to breathe, but not to celebrate, as the match saw no more goals.
“We’re not going to use exhaustion as an excuse – we didn’t do enough to win the game and that’s what it’s about,” said a disappointed Niven.
Aspire-Qatar’s fate depends on the results of today’s game between Juventus (Italy) and Al Jazira (UAE); should Juventus lose, Aspire-Qatar can go through to the next round.
“We are not going to wait for the results to start preparing,” said Nevin. “This tournament is about developing Qatar’s players for professional football, and part of that is the philosophy of playing until the last minute.”
In addition to the Juventus vs Al Jazira game, today will witness a test for Aspire International’s team against the Dutch Ajax. Tomorrow will be day of rest before the semi-finals kick off on Sunday.
The tournament has witnessed an unprecedented surge in its digital audience in the 72 hours since the championship kicked off, surpassing 8,500 Facebook followers and 15,000 visitors to the website from over 20 countries.
The digital outlets saw a particular increase in visitors from Arab and regional countries, with a 50 percent daily increase from countries in the area, especially Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and a peak in visits from Gaza, Irbid (Iraq), and Amman.
Fadi Khater – Managing Partner at Netizency, the ALKASS U17 Social Engagement agency, said “This is the first Facebook page that we work on where the number of people engaging and conversing on the page exceeded the number of people who are simply ‘fans’.”
“The significant surge in digital uptake for the event is perfectly understandable since the Cup marries the two most popular topics in the digital and Arab worlds, which are sports and youth,” added Khater.
The digital wings of Al Kass U-17 feature sports and more specifically football which trends show are followed closely in play-by-play; the youth focus has also made the pages popular to the under 21 digital social population.
Ward Abdulla, Head of the Al Kass Media Committee, said “This is the first time we strongly rely on social engagement as a tool to drive online discussions and global awareness for one of our events. We have achieved participation in a plethora of languages ranging from Japanese, to Italian, Spanish, Arabic and English among many others.”
Social engagement also spread to Twitter where Brookster 81 said “Parents (locals & expats) should be bringing their kids to watch @ALKASSU17 - great example being set here” to her 415 followers.
The number of visitors to the Al Kass website www.alkassu17.com continues to grow at 40 percent a day.
“It is great to be working on a project with abundant content; as part of our digital activities we are uploading a minimum of 15 news articles, 5 videos, 70 tweets, and 20 updates per day” says Khater.
The Al Kass International Cup U-17 will continue until 17 January 2012 at ASPIRE Zone, with the semi-finals on January 15th and the finals on January 17th. The Peninsula
引き分けでグループ・ステージ1位突破を決めた鹿島ユースである。
ホーム贔屓に報じられておるが、ユースチームの偉業には舌を巻いておる様子。
PSGとの準決勝戦が楽しみである。
Friday, 13 January 2012 01:42
Actions from Group A match between Aspire Qatar (white) and Kashima Antlers Japan (left) and Group B match between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), during Al Kass International Cup U-17 at Aspire Zone yesterday. Shaival Dalal
Doha: Aspire Qatar yesterday drew (1-1) with Japanese club Kashima Antlers in the Al Kass International Cup Under-17 tournament at the Aspire Zone, while PSG held Barcelona 0-0 in the second match.
During the first half, Aspire-Qatar fully exploited Kashima Antler’s conservative playing strategy to get ahead. The Japanese with seven points in three games, and who have already secured a place in the semi-finals, focused on the defensive, leaving the mid-field clear for the competition.
Kohei Horinouchi of the Antlers scored the first and only goal for his team in the 18th minute, slightly encouraging the Antlers to come out of their defence zone. Aspire-Qatar were able to penetrate Kashima’s defence zone dozens of times, but all in vain.
Soloman Udo scored in the 64th minute with a penalty kick that allowed the Aspire-Qatar coach Paul Nevin to breathe, but not to celebrate, as the match saw no more goals.
“We’re not going to use exhaustion as an excuse – we didn’t do enough to win the game and that’s what it’s about,” said a disappointed Niven.
Aspire-Qatar’s fate depends on the results of today’s game between Juventus (Italy) and Al Jazira (UAE); should Juventus lose, Aspire-Qatar can go through to the next round.
“We are not going to wait for the results to start preparing,” said Nevin. “This tournament is about developing Qatar’s players for professional football, and part of that is the philosophy of playing until the last minute.”
In addition to the Juventus vs Al Jazira game, today will witness a test for Aspire International’s team against the Dutch Ajax. Tomorrow will be day of rest before the semi-finals kick off on Sunday.
The tournament has witnessed an unprecedented surge in its digital audience in the 72 hours since the championship kicked off, surpassing 8,500 Facebook followers and 15,000 visitors to the website from over 20 countries.
The digital outlets saw a particular increase in visitors from Arab and regional countries, with a 50 percent daily increase from countries in the area, especially Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and a peak in visits from Gaza, Irbid (Iraq), and Amman.
Fadi Khater – Managing Partner at Netizency, the ALKASS U17 Social Engagement agency, said “This is the first Facebook page that we work on where the number of people engaging and conversing on the page exceeded the number of people who are simply ‘fans’.”
“The significant surge in digital uptake for the event is perfectly understandable since the Cup marries the two most popular topics in the digital and Arab worlds, which are sports and youth,” added Khater.
The digital wings of Al Kass U-17 feature sports and more specifically football which trends show are followed closely in play-by-play; the youth focus has also made the pages popular to the under 21 digital social population.
Ward Abdulla, Head of the Al Kass Media Committee, said “This is the first time we strongly rely on social engagement as a tool to drive online discussions and global awareness for one of our events. We have achieved participation in a plethora of languages ranging from Japanese, to Italian, Spanish, Arabic and English among many others.”
Social engagement also spread to Twitter where Brookster 81 said “Parents (locals & expats) should be bringing their kids to watch @ALKASSU17 - great example being set here” to her 415 followers.
The number of visitors to the Al Kass website www.alkassu17.com continues to grow at 40 percent a day.
“It is great to be working on a project with abundant content; as part of our digital activities we are uploading a minimum of 15 news articles, 5 videos, 70 tweets, and 20 updates per day” says Khater.
The Al Kass International Cup U-17 will continue until 17 January 2012 at ASPIRE Zone, with the semi-finals on January 15th and the finals on January 17th. The Peninsula
引き分けでグループ・ステージ1位突破を決めた鹿島ユースである。
ホーム贔屓に報じられておるが、ユースチームの偉業には舌を巻いておる様子。
PSGとの準決勝戦が楽しみである。
いろんな意味で期待してます。何かをつかんでもらえたら。とにかく頑張ってほしい。