Outside the top 8 (quarter finalists), the standings are already known.
9 China PR
10 Bahrain
11 Syria
12 Korea DPR
13 United Arab Emirates
14 Kuwait
15 Saudi Arabia
16 India
17 Oman
18 Yemen
19 Thailand
20 Singapore
21 Vietnam
22 Indonesia
23 Lebanon
24 Hong Kong
25 Malaysia
26 Maldives
Most likely the top 3 in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup will be automatically qualified for the 2015 edition.
if Australia finish in the top 3 and the 4th placed team gets a bye from AFC to the final tournament, or Australia don't finish in the top 3, the qualifying setup will be the same as for Qatar 2011. Assuming the same teams and Korea DPR participate in the preliminaries, here's how things will look like:
First round
Pot 1: Lebanon, Hong Kong
Pot 2: Malaysia, Maldives
Group stage
Pot 1: China PR + worst of the top 8.
Pot 2: Bahrain, Syria, Korea DPR, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait
Pot 3: Saudi Arabia, India, Oman, Yemen, Thailand
Pot 4: Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia + playoff winners
Saudi Arabia in the third pot. If Korea DPR don't enter the preliminary competition (as they did this time), Saudi Arabia will climb to the second pot.
Ah, the Asian Cup 2015 draw. There is potential for a group containg the loser of Iran/Korea Rep, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and next door something like Qatar/Kuwait/Yemen.
ReplyDeleteIt was a minor miracle that for the 2011 qualifiers the groups all came out in a balanced fashion. There was tremendous potential for lopsided groups with all those weak host nations having been involved in the 2007 tournament. It was possible to have something as imbalanced as Vietnam/Indonesia/Hong Kong! Imagine two of those gracing this tournament!