The format of the qualifiers remains the same like 2010 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers. More info in this AFC press release (August 13th, 2010).
The first two rounds will be using a home and away KO format. Round 1 will be played on June 29th and July 3rd, while Round 2 will be played on July 23rd and 28th. Thus, there must a draw in June.
Bassil at Football Palestine mentions Palestine being 36th in the seeding list. He has one mistake in his seeding list - Thailand (1 point, -9 GD) should be above Turkmenistan (1 point, -11 GD). If that's the only mistake, then only 43 teams will participate in the qualifiers and one of Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Mongolia won't be in the draw, since I have Palestine 37th.
There could actually be a group with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Uzbekistan, while the other group would feature the two Koreas, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
1 Japan
2 Korea Republic
3 Australia
4 Korea DPR
5 Bahrain
6 Saudi Arabia
7 Iran
8 Qatar
9 Uzbekistan
10 United Arab Emirates
11 Syria
12 Oman
13 Jordan
14 Iraq
15 China PR
16 Singapore
17 Kuwait
18 Thailand
19 Turkmenistan
20 Lebanon
21 Yemen
22 Tajikistan
23 Hong Kong
24 Indonesia
25 Kyrgyzstan
26 Maldives
27 India
28 Malaysia
29 Bangladesh
30 Pakistan
31 Afghanistan
31 Cambodia
33 Nepal
34 Sri Lanka
34 Vietnam
36 Mongolia
37 Palestine
38 Timor-Leste
39 Macau
40 Chinese Taipei
40 Myanmar
42 Bhutan
42 Brunei Darussalam
42 Guam
42 Laos
42 Philippines
Brunei is suspended and I doubt that they will be entering the qualifiers.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of groups, I think you're doing Bahrain a disservice and you should be putting them in the "strong" group and Saudi Arabia in the "weak" one. Bahrain are superior to Saudi Arabia in my eyes. They've shown their strength in the last two World Cup qualifying cycles, winning the Asian Playoff the last two times, over Saudi Arabia last time. At the Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia were pathetic, while Bahrain simply got screwed by the harsh draw they got. They only lost to South Korea by a single goal, and they dominated Australia for large swathes of the match, losing 1-0. Schwarzer being man of the match tells you all you need to know about that match. Bahrain went down swinging at the Asian Cup, and could have offered a lot more to the tournament I think if they hadn't had to contend with 2 of Asia's best 3 teams.
ReplyDeleteIt must be wonderful to be a Japanese football supporter right now. They got that big friendly win over Argentina, just won their 4th Asian Cup out of the last 6, which means they will be at the Confederations Cup. And on top of that they're guesting at the Copa America! World Cup qualifying coming up in a few months too. Amazing lineup of football coming up for their team, building on tremendos success already.
ReplyDeleteThat's one for you Edgar, think of the potential ranking points up for grabs! If Japan won both tournaments on top of the Asian Cup, and had a strong World Cup qualifying campaign, do you think they'd leave Spain for dead in the rankings?
Which teams can seed with Indonesia
ReplyDelete@Lorric
ReplyDeleteYou're right about Bahrain being stronger than Saudi Arabia. However, the Saudis are considered one of the top teams in Asia along with Japan, Australia, Korea Republic and Iran.
Regarding Japan - I'll look into it when I'll have more data. The Confederations Cup is two years away.
@Anonymous
Not sure I understand your question. If you ask about possible first round opponents for Indonesia, just look at everyone below you in the seeding table.
how many teams should be going 2 be selected from afc qualifying matches?
ReplyDeleteJatinder: 4 Asian teams will qualify for Brazil 2014. A 5th team will get a chance of a play-off with a team from another continent.
ReplyDeleteFor more details see Wikipedia.