@ArsenalFan700 : Constantine time team selection does not involve players form in isl or i-league He had came up with some random 30 footballers (some good, some bad and some passi like ) and he will keep doing that
One more thing, why saff cup is so important to us? Constantine's one of the achievement which helped him with his job was saff cup and friendly with tired and second string Puerto Rico. Had they played with Thailand or Malaysia, picture would have been different
One more thing, Myanmar is playing 5 friendlies in November, though there are only two slots in November. So we can still manage.
But I think we will go for Bhutan or Nepal like always
SAFF Cup shouldn't be so important. After winning the 2009 edition with our under-23 side and the 2011 won like it was almost nothing we should be at the point... 5-6 years later, where we don't even need to field a senior side in the SAFF Cup and just play the U21s or U23s... or at least just a bunch of friendlies to test new players. Sadly, our victory last year was viewed as an accomplishment.
Myanmar played those friendlies cause you can... FIFA doesn't stop you from playing whenever you want. The US for example has January friendlies (fans call it Camp Cupcake) where we play 2 friendlies with an all MLS squad (MLS offseason). No FIFA dates then but who cares, it benefits us.
@Carbon_14 ; Out of 5 matches Myanmar playing 3 are AFF championship matches. Myanmar may play more if they enter semifinal->final. As @ArsenalFan700 said you can play any day in a year which you prefer. Only restriction being only 2 matches played in those 10 days of friendly dates of a month are considered for ranking, exceptions are championships like saff cup, eaff championship, nehru cup etc which are recognized by fifa. If matches are of these championships you can play more than 2 matches in fifa dates of a month and will be counted for ranking. In non fifa dates there is no restriction on number of matches.
According to AFC, if Kuwait were still suspended on December 18, 2016, they will not be
eligible to compete in the Asian Cup 2019 Qualifiers Final Round.
Draw is important. Top 2 teams of the Group will qualify for AFC Asia Cup. We need to avoid difficult teams. In previous stage, our Group was tough. Imagine North Korea and Bahrain in our Group this time, it will be curtains.
Draw is on 23rd January and Kuwait has one more day to lift their suspension from FIFA otherwise they will not be considered.
Deadline for Kuwait participation is now extended to 11th January. We have a solid chance of Kuwait participation now in AFC Asian Cup 2019. On January 10th FIFA Council meeting, they will lift the suspension on Kuwait.
Comments
He had came up with some random 30 footballers (some good, some bad and some passi like ) and he will keep doing that
One more thing, why saff cup is so important to us? Constantine's one of the achievement which helped him with his job was saff cup and friendly with tired and second string Puerto Rico. Had they played with Thailand or Malaysia, picture would have been different
One more thing, Myanmar is playing 5 friendlies in November, though there are only two slots in November. So we can still manage.
But I think we will go for Bhutan or Nepal like always
Myanmar played those friendlies cause you can... FIFA doesn't stop you from playing whenever you want. The US for example has January friendlies (fans call it Camp Cupcake) where we play 2 friendlies with an all MLS squad (MLS offseason). No FIFA dates then but who cares, it benefits us.
http://www.the-afc.com/competitions-division/afc-competitions-committee-recommends-new-afc-cup-format
What is the status of Kuwait as of now?
if we start from pot 2, first 3 matches will be tough for Indian NT (first away vs 3rd team, then at home vs first & then away vs 4th)
Draw is on 23rd January and Kuwait has one more day to lift their suspension from FIFA otherwise they will not be considered.
Deadline for Kuwait participation is now extended to 11th January. We have a solid chance of Kuwait participation now in AFC Asian Cup 2019. On January 10th FIFA Council meeting, they will lift the suspension on Kuwait.
Most probable pot structure.. so India avoided some good teams. But still very much danger from pot 4
Same thing is updated on AFC Asian Cup qualification third round Wikipedia page also