Is he Great or is he the Greatest
By Abdul Ahad Farshori
The year was 1999, the place was Paris when Andre Agassi became the fifth man to complete a career Grand Slam after winning French Open. Ten years on it was the Swiss great Roger Federer who accomplished the same feet and became only the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 27.

After cricket and hockey, football is the third most popular sport in Pakistan. It is gaining strength with every passing day, and to be optimistic, it would not be a far cry to say that Pakistan will join one day the pool of the elite football playing nations of Asia.

Due to specific attention from the world football governing body (FIFA) in the development of the game in Asian, the activities of the sport have gained lot of momentum in the low-profile countries of Asia, including Pakistan.

We have never seen before the type of hectic football activities in Pakistan as they are in these days. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), an affiliated body of FIFA, responsible for handling the football affairs in Asia, is giving Pakistan 10,000 US dollars on monthly basis for running its youth programmes through the AID-27 coaches in a bid to broaden the base.

Besides, it also supports Pakistan in the field of refereeing and coaching, the two important departments which are indispensable for the development of the game.

FIFA have also been helping Pakistan strengthening its infrastructure and the multi-million rupees FIFA Football House in Lahore, where the offices of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) are also located, is the glaring example of that. Also, the construction work is continuing in Peshawar while construction work will start in Karachi within the next two months. Besides that Pakistan's inclusion in the Vision Asia programme will further push the graph of football in the country as through it the AFC will provide technical support to the emerging playing nation.

Pakistan is in dire need of technical assistance in its league structure, youth development programme, administration and other fields. Currently, our Premier League is not that much potent to prepare good footballers for the future.

The current year is lucky for Pakistan football as the country not only got the services of the Austrian coach George Kottan in late February this year but the performance of the national team under the foreign instructor during the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers in Sri Lanka in last April was also encouraging.

Though, Pakistan missed the berth in the final round but the positive thing was that the team did not lose any game and played like a unit. Afterwards, the national champions WAPDA pulled off impressive performance in the AFC President's Cup Group A Qualifiers in Nepal in May this year, and they still have a chance to move into the semifinals as the best second-placed side. Our Under-13 team's performance during the AFC Under-13 Festival of Football held at Sari in Iran last month was also not bad as the Greenshirts won five matches out of nine they played during the festival. But, there is room for improvement.

The ground realities show that the glimpses of improvement in football are there but the PFF will have to be more responsible to take advantage in order to raise the standard of the game. Few days back, a seriously embarrassing situation emerged when national team coach George Kottan's request of starting the camp early, was seemingly ignored by the mangement of PFF.

Why the competition wing of the PFF has shown so much slackness? One can just not think of such situations emerging in countries who respect their game. Discipline should be kept in the team to avoid coming across such situations in the future.

George Kottan's dedication and the way he is focusing on the team is praiseworthy and has been really impressive. But the authorities should also help him up-to the maximum.

The PFF has all the power, leaving nothing to the provincial associations. The federating units should have a say in the country's football, and without giving them powers the football affairs in Pakistan will not run smoothly.

In the wake of struggle for the FIFA Goal Project in Karachi earlier this year, the chairman of the Sindh Football Association (SFA) looked powerless.

Had the SFA been strong, the matter of FIFA Goal Project would have been resolved amicably. Another thing which is harming football of the country is the worst relation between the football circles of Karachi and that of the PFF and we have seen that the chairman of the District South and a former FIFA referee had to face ban after they were found guilty of speaking against the PFF top brass.

Karachi has become a 'no go zone' for the PFF officials and the same tension also forced the federation to conduct the National Challenge Cup in Hyderabad in last April instead of the most ideal place to conduct such events, Karachi, where astonishingly around 15,000 people were seen witnessing the final of a local league few months back.

There are good grounds in Karachi where the camp for the AFC Challenge Cup in Sri Lanka could have been held in late March-April this year but Pakistan's coach George Kottan was kept away from these venues due to the prevailing tension between the PFF and football authorities of the Sindh's capital.

For the sake of football's future both the parties (the PFF and football circles of Karachi) should enter into a dialogue in order to pave the way for another beginning of the cordial relations. The PFF should also focus on managing maximum foreign tours for its senior team so that its fighting level could be boosted. It is a good sign that the federation has endorsed the suggestion of coach George Kottan and is planning for a foreign tour.

The PFF should also take care in appointing coaches for the various age-group outfits for international trips and it should not only focus on a single coach for every assignment.

Though FIFA is funding Pakistan to construct Football Houses in all the federating units but the PFF should also have its own football ground in Lahore which could be maintained properly and on which the national footballers could be trained ahead of any international commitment.

Mostly, Pakistani players are being given training on pitches which either have no grass or not properly maintained, and that is why the team faces problems abroad while playing on well-maintained and grassy grounds. Sometimes, our teams also have to play on artificial turfs on foreign tours but interestingly we have no such tracks here in Pakistan.

Where World Cup finalists will ceremoniously walk down the players tunnel, workers in security vests stood amid puddles and steel nets. Where VIPs will park for the final match, dozens were spreading mortar on brick.

With one year to go until the World Cup kicks off, the swirling red dust and relentless noise produced by 3,500 workers is everywhere. But towering over it all is the stadium at Soccer City, well on its way to be finished in time and become the new "cathedral" of African football.

"We want an icon out of the World Cup," chief World Cup organiser Danny Jordaan said on Wednesday, one year and one day before the first match of the 2010 World Cup. "We want a monument."

With a little more beautification in Soccer City, Jordaan and the rest of the world should have it by the end of October.

What the Bird's Nest stadium with its mesh of concrete beams was for the Beijing Olympics, the "Cooking Pot Stadium" will be for South Africa's World Cup. Instead of a nest, the Soccer City arena resembles a traditional African calabash pot and will have a lighted "Ring of Fire" around it.

The metaphor related to the stadium's chubby exterior is hardly the only one going around. Walking down the narrow players tunnel, water still wets the uneven textured concrete. The rough edge could well stay to highlight Johannesburg's gold mining past.

When the sun is out, even the backdrop of slagheaps around the stadium have the colour of gold.

From many seats on the upper tier, the skyscrapers of Johannesburg glimmer in the distance, but the significance of its location is closer by. It is built on the edges of Soweto, the infamous township of Apartheid's racial segregation which has also long been the beating heart of the nation's football.

The stadium is actually being built on the rubble of the site where Nelson Mandela had his first mass rally after his release from prison in 1990.

When it comes to money, football has long been the poor cousin of rugby and cricket, sports dominated by whites during Apartheid. So building Soccer City is physical proof that football, the most popular sport among black people, has fully come of age.

It may have cost more than its original estimate of 1.5 billion rand ($185 million), but with 94,000 seats, the stadium will be Africa's biggest.

"The World Cup gave an opportunity to complete that dream that in this country you have a stadium built in the name of football," Jordaan said. "That is football's cathedral. That is football's Wembley in South Africa."

Inside, there also is a reference to Berlin's Olympic Stadium, where the 2006 World Cup final was played. Breaking the monotony of the orange seats are 10 black lines of seats moving upward, pinpointing the way to the nine other World Cup venues. The 10th goes straight to the German capital.

Over the past months, the outside panelling in different shades of brown, red and ochre have given the stadium its distinct cooking pot look. Some spaces will be left open for the natural light to flow in. At dusk from inside, the spotted exterior gives it a fairy tale look.

"It is going to be a magnificent sight," Jordaan said. "If you fly over that stadium at night and it glows, it is going to be truly an amazing sight."

At other places, the inside beams and pillars dart elegantly in serpentine fashion, giving some views a touch of Gaudi.

Huge cranes placing the panels still obstruct the finishing of the "Ring of Fire", where the turnstiles will be.

The roof itself cradles all the stands, and has the added advantage of keeping the sound in.

"When you have 94,000 people filling that stadium, it will be the noisiest World Cup ever," Jordaan said.

"They will come with their vuvuzelas," Jordaan added, referring to the plastic trumpets which are a must-have item for any fan of South Africa's Bafana Bafana team. "That noise will be captured in the dome."

Dancing in the stands is also common and the stadium had a "dynamic loading" test for resonance to make sure it would be strong enough withstand the unified stamping.

One year ahead of the June 11 kickoff, Jordaan already knows that visions of a sea of heaving masses from around the globe in this melting pot of cultures should be the lasting memory of the World Cup.

"These," Jordaan said, "are the kind of images we want the world to see." –Associated Press

The year was 1999, the place was Paris when Andre Agassi became the fifth man to complete a career Grand Slam after winning French Open. Ten years on it was the Swiss great Roger Federer who accomplished the same feet and became only the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam at the age of 27.

Other players who have accomplished the feat are: Fred Perry in 1935, Don Budge in 1938, Rod Laver (1962 and '69) and Roy Emerson (1964).

Another record that Federer managed to equal on the way to glory was that he leveled Ivan Lendl's record of 19 Grand Slam finals.

Roger Federer, world no 2, never doubted that he would one day end his French Open jinx even when many people were writing off his chances of ever winning the one Grand Slam title missing from his collection.

Grand Slam finals defeats to claycourt nemesis Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros last year followed by crushing losses to him at Wimbledon and the Australian Open at the start of this year left the Swiss star open to barbs that at 27 he was on the decline. It was perplexing he agrees, but he never lost faith that he could finally win that elusive 14th Grand Slam title to draw level with Pete Sampras.

The lack of a win on the clay of Roland Garros and the need to at least match Sampras have been the two reasons most commonly given by those reluctant to accord Federer the supreme accolade of best ever.

But in the space of one chilly and wet Parisian afternoon, the man from Basel has blasted away those reservations.

It had been far from an easy run to the title in Paris as he battled through two five-setters against Tommy Haas and Juan Martin del Potro and two four-setters against Paul-Henri Mathieu and Jose Acasuso just to get to the final.

On the argument that either Federer is the best player in tennis or not it is of supreme importance to mention here that past greats like Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe simply do not have the Grand Slam silverware to compete with the Federer legacy.

Agassi himself left no doubt over his feelings that the Swiss is the all time great in the sport when he and wife Steffi Graf visited Roland Garros ahead of the men's final.

"If he wins he'll know for the rest of his life what an accomplishment he has achieved," said the American who was the only other player in the last 40 years to have won all four Grand Slam titles.

"It ends the dispute of where he fits into the history of the game. It will mean so much to him that the great hole he has created on his mind is finally filled."

And with time stacked in the favour of Roger Federer he is all poised to carve another record in the storyboard of history -- maybe with another Grand Slam.

Many people consider that Federer is at a point in his career where he should resign but there still maybe a lot of time for Federer as Andre Agassi lifted his last Grand Salm trophy at Australian Open when he was 33 -- that was also his eighth Grand Slam. Agassi kept on playing till he was 35.

There remains though the enigma of Australian legend Rod Laver, the only man to have pulled off two Grand Slam sweeps in 1962 and 1969. He won 11 Grand Slam titles in his career and was prevented from playing in them for six years after turning professional in late 1962 at a time when only amateurs could compete.

But the competition at that time was nothing like as fierce as it is nowadays as the sport has gone global with notably players from the former Soviet block entering the picture after the fall of communism.

Federer alongside with his 14 grand slam titles also have 49 singles titles, 8 doubles titles and his superlative career have so far earned him over 48 million dollars in prize money (which is a record on it's own). Federer when it comes to ATP singles titles is only second to Andre Agassi. Federer also maintained the number one ranking for a record 237 weeks.

If he goes on to play for lets say another four five years who is to stop him from taking more singles titles and surpassing Agassi. And along the way maybe he can achieve only feet he is yet to achieve that is to win a singles gold medal at the Olympics -- he already have won a gold medal in doubles event in the Beijing Olympics 2008.

Undoubtedly last Sunday's victory over Robin Soderling took Roger Federer into the legion of sporting legends, with his name now sitting comfortably alongside Ali, Woods, Senna, Pele, Bradman, where just one name is enough to confer instant respect.

Gracious in both victory and defeat, respectful to the game's history and immensely media-friendly with his press conferences patiently carried out in English, French and Swiss-German, all delivered pitch-perfect.

The discussion of either Federer is the greatest all time player or not will go on but for now it can be said that he is the best of the available lot.

Federer's wife Mirka is due to give birth to the couple's first child in August and there's been speculation that the distractions of fatherhood could see him lose a little spark on the court.

However, fellow former world No 1 Hewitt, a father of two, says nothing could be further from the truth. "I think when you're that good a player, you've got to be self motivated to be that good and to win that many matches," he said.

Federer showed no sign of distraction at impending fatherhood when he completed a full set of grand slam titles by winning the French Open, matching Pete Sampras for most grand slams won.

The world No 2 described the victory as being even more special after marrying his long-time love in April and Mirka being pregnant. But some wonder if fatherhood will dampen his enthusiasm for the game and dent his ability to reclaim his No 1 ranking.

Roger Federer, understandably drained after his emotional French Open victory, pulled out of the Wimbledon tuneup tournament in Halle, Germany. He will head straight to London next week without any grass events -- as will top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who is resting his sore knees in the hopes he can defend his Wimbledon title.

Wimbledon start from June 22.