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Pakistan 1-2 Cambodia (1-4 agg) 

divided FA, no international friendlies to prepare new squad, most players playing  together for first time because most first teamers stopped from joining. This was bound to happen.

 

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This inactivity for the teams that get annexed in the early rounds in the following years is bad for the lower teams football to grow but at the same time much of Asia is very far behind from the top sides putting them straight with the bigger teams will further create the perception about Asian football that it isn't competitive which is bad for the region in the long run. 

There needs to be a nations league type tournament in Asia but the for that the Asian Cup has to be moved a year further.

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You know I am optimistic and whenever we play I'll never support anyone else except Portugal but that will never happen. However, we are truly fucked in that group. Can we overpower Qatar? Ice cube's chance in hell that happens and then its really up to the rest of the teams in that group to drop points. I think we could scrape it but its very unlikely.

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1 minute ago, Toinho said:

Wait, Qatar are hosts and don’t qualify automatically? Wasn’t aware that rule changed.

We always get Jordan! Think we will top the group but only just. 

I think it will be passed on to the second placed team if they top their group, and Qatar will play in the Asian Cup qualifiers after this round

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4 hours ago, Stick With Azeem said:

All four SE Asian teams in the same group 

Also Cambodia in Group C with absolutely no chance of progressing :3_grin:

Singapore in Group D don't have much chances to progress either.

Philippines could have an outside chance in Group A depending on how well they do against China and Syria. 

Group G with four SE Asian teams is definitely the most interesting one for me. Vietnam & Thailand should have decent chances to get through.
 

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Couldn't find anything on AFC and FIFA websites about how Qatar's participation will work, but

On Wikipedia it says if Qatar qualifies for the second round than it will be up to FIFA's approval whether they get to play in the final qualifying round as warm up games, much like how France was placed in the 5 teams group of Euro 2016 qualifying.

Assuming if they don't get the approval then it will leave two places in the group one for team that originally finished second will go in the next round and one half chance for the third placed team through the best runner ups system. 

Oman will probably qualify directly and the best runner ups place will be there for the rest of the teams, so India( @Mel81x ) and Afghanistan the two favourites, have a little chance of progressing if they win all of their points against other opponents even if they lose to Oman and Qatar, but they need to have a + Goal Diff for that. 

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Group C - Group of Death

Iran will probably win the group in the end but since Marc Willmott is in charge they might have some slip ups in between. A bit off topic but Iran has a China-Hong Kong type relation with Bahrain, it was part of Iranian Empire but British took it over and made it separate from Iran when they left but Iran always had a claim over it up until when Reza Shah gave up the claim after negotiations, so there is a bit off field history between them.

Group H - Surprise Package 

Turkmenistan looked good in the Asian Cup, Korean clash can produce any result, Lebanon thrashed North Korea few years ago so it will be interesting 

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1 hour ago, Stick With Azeem said:

Couldn't find anything on AFC and FIFA websites about how Qatar's participation will work, but

On Wikipedia it says if Qatar qualifies for the second round than it will be up to FIFA's approval whether they get to play in the final qualifying round as warm up games, much like how France was placed in the 5 teams group of Euro 2016 qualifying.

Assuming if they don't get the approval then it will leave two places in the group one for team that originally finished second will go in the next round and one half chance for the third placed team through the best runner ups system. 

Oman will probably qualify directly and the best runner ups place will be there for the rest of the teams, so India( @Mel81x ) and Afghanistan the two favourites, have a little chance of progressing if they win all of their points against other opponents even if they lose to Oman and Qatar, but they need to have a + Goal Diff for that. 

Thanks for checking. I really hope we do progress. Last time around Oman stuffed us and I really want us to do well this time.

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Group B and C are the toughest, why? Because they each have 3 standout teams in their groups at this level.

These are my prediction:

Group A

China wins the group and Syria finishes second. The Philipines have improved their level of football, but they still don't have enough to get the better of China or Syria. Maldives and Guam have no chance.

Group B

Australia should win this group, although there is no guarantee that they will. Jordan and Kuwait are both very closely matched and they will fight it out for second place, any one of them can beat the other. Nepal and Chinese Taipei will both try to finish second from bottom in the group.

Group C

Iran and Iraq will fight hard between themselves to win this group and Bahrain are the dark horses in the group who could cause a few surprises. Iraq have gotten the better of Iran in recent encounters, but really anyone of them can win this group. Bahrain are a tough team and there could be a few surprises from them. Hong Kong and Cambodia don't have much of a chance in this group.

Group D

Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan are the clear favorites in this group. In terms of talent, Saudi Arabia has one of the most talented squads in Asia and they probably have more quality in depth than Uzbekistan. However the Saudi FA pulls their own national team back, constantly sacking managers after every 2 years or less. This prevents their national team from developing a shape and consistency as players and tactics are constantly changed by each manager. Uzbekistan are generally a consistent team who are always a threat and they have some very good footballers. If Saudi play to their peak, then Saudi Arabia probably win this group, but Uzbekistan seem to be in better form right now, so it's a 50/50 chance as to who wins this group right now. Palestine, Yemen and Singapore are not the worst teams in Asia, but they can't challenge Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan for the top two places in the group.

Group E

Qatar are seen as the favorites to win this group, mainly because they won the Asian Cup earlier in the year. However, it is far from certain that Qatar win this group. Oman have beaten and outplayed Qatar several times in recent years. Oman have a very good chance of winning this group, even though Qatar will be most people's favorites to do so.  Oman are always dangerous at Asian level and I think they could win this group. India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have all improved the level of their play in recent years, but they still don't have a real chance against Oman and Qatar. These three teams will all be desperate to compete against each other, for that third place position.

Group F

Japan win this group without breaking a sweat. This is an easy group for the Japanese with all due respect to the other teams in the group. No doubt they will rotate many of their players in the national team against these teams, so as to give as many Japanese players a chance to impress. The Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikstan will fight for second place and Myanmar will probably finish behind them with Mongolia in last place.

Group G

Again the UAE are easily favorites to win this group. They have way too much talent compared to the other sides in the group. Vietnam and Thailand are no pushovers and they have always had good technical players, but they will fall short of seriously challenging the UAE and they will both battle it out to finish second behind the UAE. Malaysia and Indonesia, the two big neighbours, will attempt to not finish last and maybe cause a bit of a surprise by finishing even higher in the group. But they will likely both finish in the last two places.

Group H

South Korea should win this group with the talented players that they have, but Lebanon could cause them problems. Lebanon are likely to get second place, while North Korea could also genuinely cause some upsets. They will be out to prove a lot against their neighbours South Korea and there could be a few surprises in the games between them. So although on paper South Korea should be winning this group, Lebanon and North Korea could cause them a few problems. Turkmenistan will probably finish in fourth place and Sri Lanka are almost certain to finish last.

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Nice to see another member having interest in Asian football.

In other news, FIFA has given the green signal to Iraq to play their home matches in the country. Good for them really looking forward to the Iran-Iraq match up. 

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