World Soccer - UK (2022-07)

WORLDSERVICE

GroupD sees hostsIndiafullof

confidenceasallthegamesare taking

placeinKolkata,thespiritualfootball

homeofthesubcontinent. HongKong

willbe lookingtotakethe runners-up

spotandwillbe boostedby sendinga

teamthroughtotheAsianChampions

Leagueknockoutroundfor thefirst time

inApril.Afghanistan’spreparationshave

beendisruptedbythe politicalsituation

athomeastheTalibanreturnedtopower

inAugust. Cambodia,

managedby Keisuke

Honda,havethepassion

athomebutdespite

a number of talented

players,qualification

willbe a surprise.

KualaLumpur hosts

GroupE,whichgivesMalaysiaa chance

ofappearingatthetournamentforthe

first timesince 2007 whentheywere

co-hosts. Bahrainare regularparticipants

onthe continentalstageandmadethe

last 1 6 in 2 019 ,onlytolosetoSouth

Korea afterextra-time.Turkmenistan

areoneofthemostimprovedteamsin

Asiainrecentyearsandonlynarrowly

missedoutonthe finalroundofWorld

Cupqualification.Bangladeshwill be

delightedtoavoidfinishingfourth.

Kyrgyzstan areperhapsfavouritesto

winGroupF,notleastbecausetheywill

beathome.TheCentralAsiansmade

theknockoutstagesin 2 01 9 andwill

betestedbyregionalrivalsTajikistan.

Singapore’sfootballscenehasbeen

lookingmore positive of latewiththe

performancesof LionCitySailorsin

theAsianChampionsLeagueandmore

playersheadingoverseas. They should

haveenoughtofinishaboveSoutheast

AsianrivalsMyanmar,whohavestruggled

forgamesinternationallyandathome

duetopoliticalandsecurityissues,but

itwill be toughtofinishinthetoptwo.

GroupH favourites...
Kyrgyzstan’srecord
scorer Mirlan
Murzayev

Itlooksa littlemoreopeninGroupB.

Mongoliaare a continentalminnowbut

playinginUlaanbaatar shouldgivethem

a chanceatleast.Palestine,Philippines

andYemenallmadethe 2019 edition

andall have ambitionsofdoingsoagain.

Yemenbarelyplaythesedaysdue to

thecivilwarat homebuta temporary

ceasefire providesoptimism,ashasa

trainingcampinSaudiArabia.The

Philippineshavebeenboosted by the

womenqualifyingforthe 2023 World

Cupandthereis growinginternational

experiencein theteam.Palestineare

goingfor a thirdsuccessiveappearance.

Uzbekistan arethefavouritesin

GroupC andusuallyaim notjustto

gettotheAsianCup buttoprogress

tothe latterstagesoncethere.Thereis

somethingofa changingoftheguardin

theCentral Asianpowerhousebut,with

homeadvantage,theWhite Wolveswill

surelybetoo strongfor theMaldivesand

SriLanka.SoutheastAsianchampions

Thailandwill alsoexpecttopickup

enoughpointstoqualify.

Football-crazy

nation...Indonesia

haveanoutside

chance in GroupA

SoutheastAsian

champs...Thailand

havehighhopes

ofqualification

WORLDSOCCER 87

Elevenplacesareupforgrabsandthesewill

befilledinJuneas 24 teamsaredividedinto

sixgroupsoffour.Thegroupwinnersqualify

alongwithfiveofthesixbestrunners-up

GROUP A

Indonesia

Jordan

Kuwait

Nepal

GROUP B

Mongolia

Palestine

Philippines

Yemen

GROUP C

Maldives

SriLanka

Thailand

Uzbekistan

GROUP D

Afghanistan

Cambodia

HongKong

India

GROUP E

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Malaysia

Turkmenistan

GROUP F

Kyrgyzstan

Myanmar

Singapore

Tajikistan

THEDRAW