Nepal played in this stage last time courtesy of winning the AFC Solidarity Cup. It's a new experience for Bangladesh though, as they missed out last time after losing in the playoffs to......Bhutan.
Sri Lanka are the luckiest side in this qualifying cycle. They made it to Round 2 after their preliminary round opponents Macau withdrew after winning the first leg. And despite getting a grand total of zero points, the Lankans escaped becoming one of the four lowest ranked 5th placed teams because of North Korea's withdrawal, so they qualified directly to Round 3 by being classified as a 4th placed team.
Following 4 teams will be playing play-off round. Indonesia & Chinese Taipei are favorites in play-off & they may qualify for ACQ 3rd round.
Indonesia , Cambodia , Chinese Taipei & Guam
Kuwait won 4 games & has 2 draws against Jordan. Their ranking will improve by the time of draw and mostly Kuwait will be in pot2. After addition of naturalized players, Malaysia NT looks good and they will be in pot3. Whoever gets them will face the music. If both Kuwait & Malaysia drawn into same group, then Pot1 team will have to face both heat & music.
Guys, just realised that ACQ 3rd round dates have been changed. It's now Feb 1, Mar 24, Mar 29, Jun 14, Sep 22, Sep 27 2022.
If Stimac is going to sacked, it has to be now. The new coach will get some time to prepare the team. He will get 3 FIFA windows in Sep, Oct & Nov and the SAFF Cup, if it happens. He can also take charge of the U23 team for the qualifiers in October.
One thing is for sure Stimac will not be sacked..and I guess that's ok. Since the whole process will take 2-3 months at the very least. So in another 6-7 months, the third round will start and the new coach will not have time to adjust. Stimac will be given an extension till the third round of qualifications end. By that time we will know if we are advancing or not..If we don't he will be sacked and if we do he will see out his tenure till the end of Asian Cup.
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Sri Lanka are the luckiest side in this qualifying cycle. They made it to Round 2 after their preliminary round opponents Macau withdrew after winning the first leg. And despite getting a grand total of zero points, the Lankans escaped becoming one of the four lowest ranked 5th placed teams because of North Korea's withdrawal, so they qualified directly to Round 3 by being classified as a 4th placed team.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/indonesia/story/4294885/with-league-action-finally-cancelledindonesia-football-have-to-bounce-back-in-2021
Their league got cancelled n scrapped all together this time due to covid
If Stimac is going to sacked, it has to be now. The new coach will get some time to prepare the team. He will get 3 FIFA windows in Sep, Oct & Nov and the SAFF Cup, if it happens. He can also take charge of the U23 team for the qualifiers in October.