Pakistan street children return to rapturous welcome

(MENAFN- Arab News) Karachi: pakistan's street children footballers returned home tuesday to jubilant scenes after clinching the bronze medal in brazil with captain sameer ahmed hailing the 'once in a lifetime" experience

Competing for the first time in the street child world cup the pakistanis hammered title-holders india 13-0 in their first match before beating kenya and mauritius and tying with the united states to top their group

They squeezed past the philippines 3-2 in the quarterfinals before losing to burundi 3-4 in the semifinals but beat the us 3-2 on penalties in the third-place play-off to cap a remarkable tournament for the rookies

Around 4000 people gathered at karachi airport to welcome the children back home in an overwhelming display normally reserved for the country's cricketers pakistan's main representatives in international sports

Folk musicians beat traditional drums as fans both young and old waved congratulatory banners and danced though they were eventually denied the chance to see the players who were whisked away

'we were unknown kids before this world cup but after seeing such a big crowd i am very happy that people now know us" said ahmed

'we had never thought that we will go to brazil we just heard the name of brazil which is famous for football

'our representation in the event and finishing third has proved that there is enough hidden talent of football in our streets and the only need is to unearth that talent" he added

For pakistan's leading goalscorer raziq mushtaq 15 the win over rivals india was particularly sweet

'india beat us in cricket world twenty20 but we exacted the revenge in football and that win over india gave us the confidence to do well in the tournament" said mushtaq who hit the back of the net eight times against india and scored 18 goals overall

The children many of whom were former drug addicts or members of gangs linked to karachi's ethnic and political violence were rehabilitated by the non-profit azad foundation

Coach abdul rashid praised the team's commitment and said the third-place finish was a result of the hard training they had been putting in since october

'they played with great passion" said rashid. 'they proved they had talent and we groomed them for the world cup." he said the tournament also proved that pakistan currently ranked 158 in fifa rankings could do bigger things on the world stage

'it is now up to us to unearth the hidden talent which can go places and make pakistan a bigger footballing nation" he said

The team later met opposition leader bilawal bhutto son of the slain former pakistan prime minister benazir bhutto who announced cash prizes of 100000 rupees ($1000) for each player

Bhutto also announced that he has invited argentina's legendary footballer diego maradona to coach the youngsters

The team was earlier taken to the provincial assembly where information minister sharjeel memon announced prizes of 200000 rupees for each player

Fifa initiated the tournament in 2010 with the first edition held in south africa and the second in rio de janeiro ahead of the world cup that begins in june.