I think that as all Indian NT players were based in Goa for ISL, it would have been advantageous to organise the matches in Goa unless there are Monsoon Rains concern
The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four. Each group contains
one team from the host pot and the remaining seeding pots, except for
the original seeding pot of the host country
Host Pot - Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, India Malaysia Mongolia Kuwait
Pot 1 - Bahrain Jordan Palestine
Pot 2 - Thailand Tajikistan Phillipines Turkmenistan Hong Kong
Pot 3 Afghanistan Yemen Myanmar Maldives Indonesia
Pot 4 Singapore Nepal Cambodia Bangladesh Sri Lanka
I just hope that Afghanistan name is not nixed at the last moment. The AFC will issue a diktat that points scored against last ranking team in the the Group will not be connsidered. It makes a mockery of entire qualification process.
By announcing the hosts before the draw, AFC have virtually created an extra pot by ensuring that the hosts won't get drawn in the same group. Weird decision in my opinion.
Comments
Playing in Mongolia is going to be a challenge for Arab and South Asian countries.