els recently acquired veteran duo of Joe Thatcher and Jason

MANILA, Philippines - While 2014 wont be considered a vintage year for Asian football, continental organizers still have plenty to celebrate this weekend when they reflect on how far the game has come since 1954. St. Louis Cardinals Gear .As always, however, politics and controversy will not be too far away.In Manila six decades ago, 12 nations came together to form the Asian Football Confederation. Now 46 member associations, hundreds of delegates, players, officials and Sepp Blatter, head of the games world governing body, will attend the party in the Philippines.The fact Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran went winless at the World Cup in June has not dampened the mood, with AFC president Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa vowing to improve standards.We had a disappointing World Cup in terms of performances but Asia, I think, does tend to surprise, he said recently. Were looking at ways in which we improve the overall level of football in the continent ... there will be better results for Asia in future.In the 60 years since the AFC was formed, professional leagues have been established all over the continent and started producing players who can be seen in the big leagues of Europe. Asias growing financial muscle increasingly attracts famous world stars to join clubs from the Gulf to China, India, Japan and Australia.Despite the poor showing in Brazil, Asian powerhouses Japan, South Korea and Australia have reached the latter stages of previous World Cups. Japan and South Korea hosted the 2002 tournament, when the South Koreans made the semifinals, and the World Cup is due to return to the continent in 2022 in Qatar.The AFC has only been getting (serious) recognition in the world of football and business in the last decade, Lou Sticca, managing director of Tribal Sports, a Sports Marketing company based in China and Australia, told The Associated Press. By 2022, the AFC will have had two World Cups and given the growing importance of China and others, there will likely be more. That exemplifies the financial power that Asia is now wielding globally.There could be more political power to come if, as has been reported in the British media, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, a FIFA Vice-president, decides to challenge Blatter for the top job in football administration. Al Hussein is also expected to run in the AFC elections in May to preserve his seat on the world governing bodys powerful executive committee. There are expected to be at least five other candidates vying for the three seats up for grabs and election campaigns, formal or otherwise, will step up a gear in Manila.As well as the battles for power and influence and the constant drive for development around the continent, there are long-standing issues that need to be addressed. Asia is regarded as one of the worlds hotspots for match-fixing. The most recent scandal has been in Vietnam, but even continental heavyweight South Korea endured a high-profile episode in 2011.Declan Hill, a noted expert on match-fixing, said the problem was deep-rooted and widespread.Hill said the AFC and national federations had been ignorant to the problem in the past but needed now to be proactive: It has to stop, otherwise all of football is at risk.The treatment of players in parts of the region is another issue. Players in Japan and Australia, and other leading leagues, are usually treated well but standards are inconsistent. In 2012, Diego Mendieta, a Paraguayan player in Indonesia, died reportedly after his clubs failure to pay his salary meant he could not afford medical bills.There are so many more opportunities for players in Asia than ever before, said Brendan Schwab, chairman of FIFPro Asia, an organization that represents thousands of players worldwide. However, in too many countries, a lack of good governance means that the games commercial opportunities are not being fully realized.This also leaves players vulnerable to abuse, non-payment, unilateral contract terminations and poor medical treatment. Threats to the integrity of sport such as match manipulation are also disproportionately present in parts of Asia, added Schwab, who has called for the development of independent players associations at national level.The players at the top level of Asia have other things on their mind in Manila. The Asian Player of 2014 will be named on Sunday. On the final shortlist of three are Nasser Al Shamrani of Saudi Arabia, Qatars Khalfan Ibrahim and Ismail Ahmed of the UAE. There was some surprise in Australia at the omission from the shortlist of Ante Covic, the goalkeeper who starred as Western Sydney Wanderers won the continental club title and was voted most valuable player of Asian Champions League. Wanderers boss Tony Popovic is, however, in the running for Coach of the Year. Cheap Cardinals Jerseys . -- The Denver Broncos retired John Elways No. Gussie Busch Cardinals Jersey . Yup, he definitely needed this one. Craig homered twice and had three RBIs Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Craig went 4 for 5 and Yadier Molina added three hits for the Cardinals, who salvaged the final game of a three-game set in hopes of staying within shouting distance of front-running Milwaukee in the NL Central. https://www.cheapcardinalsonline.com/ . Howard hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Toronto Blue Jays are struggling so badly, even when they get a huge break, they cant capitalize on it. Their first six batters went down in order against Jered Weaver, who had to leave after 24 pitches because of stiffness in his lower back. But the Jays got only two harmless singles over the final four innings against five relievers and lost their fifth straight, 5-2 to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night. "We thought we finally caught a break when Weaver left, but they shut us down," manager John Gibbons said. "Weavers different than he used to be and has a different style, but hes still one of the toughest guys around, so you feel good when he comes out of the game." Juan Francisco hit his 14th home run for the Blue Jays, who slipped three games behind AL East-leading Baltimore. J.A. Happ (7-5) was charged with five runs, seven hits and three walks in 4 1-3 innings. "Weve seen him do that before," Gibbons said. "Thats where he gets into trouble, when he loses the strike zone. Every now and then hell go through those stretches where it deserts him. Hes still got to throw it over the plate and take his chances and let them hit a ball at somebody." The Angels grabbed a 5-2 lead in the fifth. Chris Iannetta, who scored their first run in the third on Mike Trouts groundout, started the four-run rally with a leadoff double that a fan touched near the top of the 18-foot wall in right-centre field. Manager Mike Scioscia asked second base umpire Jim Wolf for a video review, hoping for a home run call he didnt get. Happ walked his next two batters before Albert Pujols hit a bloop single to right-centre that tied the score. It was his second bases-loaded hit in two days, after starting the season 0 for 13 in those situations. Josh Hamilton followed with a sacrifice fly, Howie Kendrick chased Happ with an RBI single through the box, and Erick Aybar greeted Chad Jenkins with an RBI double on the right-handers first pitch. Cardinals Jerseys China. "We know he likes to throw fastballs, so we wanted to make him throw strikes," Hamilton said. "Hes got really good stuff, so youve got to make him throw strikes. And if he doesnt then he gets into a bad count and have to throw a strike. Then you can do some damage with it." The winning pitcher was Matt Shoemaker (7-2), who made 61 pitches in his emergency stint while allowing two runs and five hits through 3 2-3 innings. The rookie right-hander had thrown 102 pitches last Thursday in a win over Houston. "It was unbelievable. You talk about trying to earn respect points, and Shoemaker definitely did that -- going on three days rest," Weaver said. "That goes a long way. I mean, for him to step up and do what he did after not thinking he was going to pitch tonight was pretty spectacular. That was an awesome job by him, mentally, and you saw the way the rest of the bullpen came in and shut the door against a pretty good lineup." The Angels recently acquired veteran duo of Joe Thatcher and Jason Grilli helped piece it together with Kevin Jepsen and Joe Smith, who got three outs for his 11th save. The Angels extended their home winning streak to 11 games, one shy of the franchise record set in 1967 -- their second season in Anaheim. They are 16 games over .500 for the first time since ending the 2012 season at 89-73, and remain 3 1/2 games behind AL West-leading Oakland. NOTES: Blue Jays RF Jose Bautista made his second straight start at 1B because of Edwin Encarnacions strained right quadriceps, which landed the second-time All-Star on the 15-day disabled list Monday. Nolan Reimould was added to the major league roster and made his Blue Jays debut starting in CF and going 0 for 3 a day after he was claimed off waivers from Baltimore. ' ' '