That's OK guy's. 2nd pot or 3rd pot. We should never fear. I had immense respect of this U23 & Hoping the same by next set of players. We will be good only if we face tough teams.
For now, Though we're not Happy. let's feel proud. We failed to qualify after 2 clear penalty calls against us. First one is against UAE game and those penalty decisions are biased.
UAE & Oman are technically far better than us, even in this U-23 qualifiers, they are good with the ball. But we never outplayed & showed lot of grit & determination. Maybe one major concern is we missed to scored easy chances, even Missed sitters. That's the reason, I said it is tough to find next Jeje as well. But it is true for Oman & UAE players . Even they missed easy chances.
When every group has a single host in the qualifiers, I don't understand the need for an East-West split. The East has so many weak teams. I would say that the weakest WAFF team Yemen will find it easy to qualify if they were placed in an East group.
Similar thing happens in AFC Cup. Only time you will face an Arab club is in Finals. Otherwise it is South Asia, ASEAN and Central Asia.
They should mix up the zones a bit.
Also why are they postponing AFC Asian Cup Qualifying matches year after year when at the end all games will be held at a neutral venue. 2020 to 2022 - 2 years have been wasted. Come June 2022 and afghanistan will walkout at the last moment and AFC will release a notification that points against last ranking team in a group will not be considered.
I am more cpncerned with postponing of AFC u16 Championship. This u16 which qualified in 2019 played exceptionally well and I had very high hopes from them of qualifying for u17 world cup. But the damn thing was postponed and I don't know when it will be held next. Some of the players from that batch would become ineligible to take part in the u16 championship bcoz of their age now. That was a golden chance of qualifying for u17 world cup on sheer merit.
AFC just works for the Arabs or the richer federations. they have no issues with home and away world cup qualifiers right now but feel Covid will impact Asian qualifiers in Feb lol
China and Australia are playing their home matches in neutral grounds, but apparently that's not an option for the less developed footballing nations for the Asian Cup qualifiers.
Despite Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia and Chinese Taipei doing exactly that for their playoff matches...
I was really looking forward to the Round 3 qualifiers, not because I expect us to realistically qualify, but we struggle to get enough competitive matches. After a long time, there has been a renewed sense of enthusiasm for the national team after hosting the SAFF Championship, but it looks like the fans won't be getting a chance to see the likes of Uzbekistan up close.
It will be funny if the reduced number of matches cause some shocks and we see minnows qualify at the expense of stronger teams.
Comments
For now, Though we're not Happy. let's feel proud. We failed to qualify after 2 clear penalty calls against us. First one is against UAE game and those penalty decisions are biased.
UAE & Oman are technically far better than us, even in this U-23 qualifiers, they are good with the ball. But we never outplayed & showed lot of grit & determination. Maybe one major concern is we missed to scored easy chances, even Missed sitters. That's the reason, I said it is tough to find next Jeje as well. But it is true for Oman & UAE players . Even they missed easy chances.
Despite Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia and Chinese Taipei doing exactly that for their playoff matches...
I was really looking forward to the Round 3 qualifiers, not because I expect us to realistically qualify, but we struggle to get enough competitive matches. After a long time, there has been a renewed sense of enthusiasm for the national team after hosting the SAFF Championship, but it looks like the fans won't be getting a chance to see the likes of Uzbekistan up close.
It will be funny if the reduced number of matches cause some shocks and we see minnows qualify at the expense of stronger teams.