Now we sit back and wait for someone to complain about how Stephen was too lazy and just looked at the line-up from the two Bengaluru FC-Dempo games and just wrote in all the Indian players to play in those two games down for the national team.
India to open 2018 World Cup qualification bid on 12th March The Blue Tigers will need to bring their best game to the fore as they will face a preliminary test against similarly ranked Asian foes in the first round of qualifiers . Nikhil Jitendran 10-Feb-2015 06:51:42 The fans of the Indian national football team, also called the Blue Tigers , can rejoice at last. After a brief hiatus, the team will be back in action, to play their round one qualifier for the 2018 World Cup in Guwahati on 12th March, 2015. The tie is scheduled to take place at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium, Guwahati. The match will also mark the beginning of the second spell of Stephen Constantine as India’s national coach. The Round One qualifiers have two legs, with the return matches, to be played on 17th March, 2015. As per FIFA and Asian Football Confederations (AFC) regulations, the 12 lowest ranked countries must play these qualifiers, a group in which India falls. Those ranked 35th to 40th ((India, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei and Timor Leste) will face off against those ranked 40th to 45th (Nepal, Macau, Pakistan,Mongolia, Brunei and Bhutan). The draw to decide who pairs off with whom will be conducted at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Tuesday 10th February, 2015. The six winners of these ties, over two legs, will then be inducted into a second round of qualifiers which will be of a group format consisting of the remaining 34 sides in the Asian confederations which would commence in June this year. What will give teams more incentive this year is that the qualifiers for the World Cup double up as qualifiers for the 2019 edition of the AFC Asian Cup. For the 2014 World Cup quaifiers, India were ranked 27th in Asia according to the AFC, with the teams ranked 28th to 43rd having to undergo the qualification procedure, playing round one. It is also vital to remember that round two, in which India participated, was a knockout stage as well. An important backdrop to the ranking mentioned above was that Brunei were suspended from partaking in any FIFA matches from September 2009 to May 2011. The Blue Tigers were seeded against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a qualification berth in round three, which was the actual group stage. The team, then under venerated coach Armando Colaco, went out 5-2 on aggregate, with the first leg of the tie bieng a controversial one for Subrata Paul, who was sent off, with India losing 3-0 on the night. They fought back to draw the second leg 2-2 . With an almighty slippage in their ranking as per FIFA tables, the Blue Tigers have to battle it out amongst the minnows this time around to ensure they remain in the hunt for a World Cup berth.
Comments
qualification bid on 12th March
The Blue Tigers will need to bring their best game to the
fore as they will face a preliminary test against similarly
ranked Asian foes in the first round of qualifiers .
Nikhil Jitendran
10-Feb-2015 06:51:42
The fans of the Indian national
football team, also called the
Blue Tigers , can rejoice at last.
After a brief hiatus, the team
will be back in action, to play
their round one qualifier for the
2018 World Cup in Guwahati on
12th March, 2015. The tie is scheduled to take place at
the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium, Guwahati.
The match will also mark the beginning of the second
spell of Stephen Constantine as India’s national coach.
The Round One qualifiers have two legs, with the return
matches, to be played on 17th March, 2015.
As per FIFA and Asian Football Confederations (AFC)
regulations, the 12 lowest ranked countries must play
these qualifiers, a group in which India falls. Those ranked
35th to 40th ((India, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Cambodia, Chinese
Taipei and Timor Leste) will face off against those ranked
40th
to 45th (Nepal, Macau, Pakistan,Mongolia, Brunei and Bhutan). The
draw to decide who pairs off with whom will be conducted
at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Tuesday 10th
February, 2015.
The six winners of these ties, over two legs, will then be
inducted into a second round of qualifiers which will be of
a group format consisting of the remaining 34 sides in the
Asian confederations which would commence in June this
year.
What will give teams more incentive this year is that the
qualifiers for the World Cup double up as qualifiers for the
2019 edition of the AFC Asian Cup.
For the 2014 World Cup quaifiers, India were ranked 27th
in Asia according to the AFC, with the teams ranked 28th
to 43rd having to undergo the qualification procedure,
playing round one. It is also vital to remember that round
two, in which India participated, was a knockout stage as
well. An important backdrop to the ranking mentioned
above was that Brunei were suspended from partaking in
any FIFA matches from September 2009 to May 2011.
The Blue Tigers were seeded against the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) for a qualification berth in round three,
which was the actual group stage. The team, then under
venerated coach Armando Colaco, went out 5-2 on
aggregate, with the first leg of the tie bieng a controversial
one for Subrata Paul, who was sent off, with India losing
3-0 on the night. They fought back to draw the second leg
2-2 .
With an almighty slippage in their ranking as per FIFA
tables, the Blue Tigers have to battle it out amongst the
minnows this time around to ensure they remain in the
hunt for a World Cup berth.