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Post by cjeagle on Nov 29, 2012 23:35:39 GMT 8
Draw will be held on Dec. 11 acc. to a Tajikistan report.
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Post by dingodile5 on Dec 1, 2012 0:17:58 GMT 8
Azkals to stage Challenge Cup qualifierBy Olmin Leyba (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 1, 2012 - 12:00am BANGKOK – Although the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has lost its bid to host the final round of the 2014 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup to Maldives, it was offered one of the qualifying meets, giving the Azkals the homefield edge in its bid to make the main draw of the second-tier bootfest in Asia. PFF president Nonong Araneta said he was told by AFC vice president Ganesh Thapa and executive committee member Winston Lee on the sidelines of this week’s AFC meeting in Kuala Lumpur that the Azkals will host one of the group qualifiers slated March next year. The composition of the four nations in each group will be determined in a drawing of lots by next month. The top two for each group will advance to the 2014 Challenge Cup, where the Pinoy booters will be seeking to improve on their bronze medal finish in the 2012 edition. “They said we can host one qualifier,” said PFF president Nonong Araneta who arrived here Friday and gave the Pinoy booters a pep talk before they gunned for a victory against Myanmar later at night and a seat to the AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals. The PFF had vied for the hosting rights of the 2014 Challenge Cup final round, seeking to take advantage of the new ruling giving the host a free pass to the main draw. The Challenge Cup, in turn, will serve a qualifying event for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. “According to them (AFC officials), Maldives made a losing bid several times in the past so the sentiment was award it to them this time. I will write the AFC just to make some clarifications as to how the decision was arrived at,” Araneta said. The Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, he said, is ready for the hosting, but some other venues like Panaad in Bacolod might be considered. “Maybe Rizal will be better. It has a better field, and it’s in Manila. I think the other teams would just like to travel to Manila,” Araneta said of the Rizal venue, which has recently undergone minor repairs in preparation for the possible home game should the Azkals reach the semis of the ongoing Suzuki Cup. Azkals manager Dan Palami, meanwhile, doesn’t mind the long route they have to take in the Challenge Cup. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get the hosting for the final round of the Challenge Cup but it doesn’t matter. If we have to go through the qualifiers, then we’ll prepare to go through that. In fact, it’s also good that we’ll have to go through it because then, we’ll have more games in our schedule,” Palami said. The Challenge Cup, a tourney for “emerging Asian nations,” provided the venue for one of the Azkals’ successes. Last March, the Azkals landed a podium finish, one of the rare times a Phl football team achieved such a feat. www.philstar.com/sports/2012/12/01/877805/azkals-stage-challenge-cup-qualifier
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Post by dingodile5 on Dec 1, 2012 9:02:48 GMT 8
PH nails hosting of ‘Challenge’ qualifier2:53 am | Saturday, December 1st, 2012 BANGKOK—Beaten by the Maldives in the hosting of the AFC Challenge Cup final tournament in 2014, the Philippines will be given the next best thing with the hosting of one of the group qualifying tournaments next year. This was the assurance given to Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta by the Asian Football Confederation, after the PFF head honcho attended AFC meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early this week. Araneta, who arrived Friday just before the national side was to face Myanmar in its final group match in the AFF Suzuki Cup, said the PFF is eyeing the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila as the venue for the qualifying tournament. “They (AFC) said we can host one qualifier,” Araneta said. “Most probably it will be in Manila because other teams will find it easier to travel there.” But while the qualifying tournament is slated in March, Araneta had hinted that they might try to stage it in late May when the European football season is over, making the foreign-based players available for national team duty. Araneta said he will seek clarification on the decision to award the Maldives the hosting of the tournament that stakes a slot to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia for the champion. Although he rued the missed chance of an outright slot to the tournament because the PFF lost the hosting bid, Azkals manager Dan Palami welcomed the challenge to go through qualification. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get the hosting of the final round of the Challenge Cup, but it doesn’t matter if we have to go through the qualifier then we are prepared to go through that,” Palami said. sports.inquirer.net/74159/ph-nails-hosting-of-challenge-qualifier
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Post by cjeagle on Dec 4, 2012 13:13:52 GMT 8
The draw will be held on December 11. the national teams will be divided into five groups. The five winners of their groups, as well as the two best second teams will join Maldives. Laos, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and the Philippines will host the qualifying groups.
Source: website of Tajikistan Football Federation
Hopefully they arrange the pots fairly so the teams will be equally distributed by strength possibly using current FIFA rankings although the AFC tends to use previous tournament results as its main criteria for seeding. With only the winner of each group advancing, there will be no margin for error.
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Post by stellarboy on Dec 5, 2012 9:10:23 GMT 8
Kyrgyzstan FA website reports on the pot groupings to be drawn during the qualifiers draw on Dec. 11:
Pot A (Hosts): Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal.
Pot B: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Palestine, India, Afghanistan.
Pot C: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei.
Pot D: Macau, Mongolia, Brunei, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands.
There will be no more pre-qualification phase for this edition of the Challenge Cup, given the number of nations participating. In the qualifiers I presume there will be 3 groups with 4 teams, while 2 groups will have 3 only.
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Post by Caz on Dec 5, 2012 11:13:21 GMT 8
Hmm. There aren't that many countries participating this time. No Timor-Leste? I feel like we've got a good chance to win it all this time. And this is the last Challenge Cup with automatic qualification to the Asian Cup, right? Still, there are a few countries that can hinder us. Hoping for a fortunate draw. Happy to see Guam in there. I hope they do well!
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Post by stellarboy on Dec 5, 2012 12:00:52 GMT 8
All the big teams except the Philippines are grouped in the same pot, pot B, so they won't be drawn it the same group. I do predict that all the top teams in Pot B (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Palestine, India) and the Philippines will win their groups and qualify, leaving the last 2 spots to contend between Myanmar, Afghanistan, Laos, Bangladesh, Guam and Chinese Taipei.
Hoping for a favourable draw.
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Post by benzgm on Dec 5, 2012 12:21:35 GMT 8
Hmm. There aren't that many countries participating this time. Not even Tajikistan? And Timor-Leste? I feel like we've got a good chance to win it all this time. And this is the last Challenge Cup with automatic qualification to the Asian Cup, right? Still, there are a few countries that can hinder us. Hoping for a fortunate draw. Happy to see Guam in there. I hope they do well! I'm rooting for Guam too, aside from the Philippines of course... They are where we are not too long ago and am happy that we are somewhat there helping them improve, like a little bro so to speak.
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Post by cjeagle on Dec 5, 2012 13:07:38 GMT 8
This means that we will have a good chance of getting one strong team(hopefully not Turkmenistan, Palestine or Tajikistan) in our group from pot B. Since only the winner plus the two best 2nd placed teams will advance, this will leave us very little margin for error with the possibility of one of the favorites not qualifying depending upon goal differential compared to other 2nd placed teams in other groups. It is good that the PFF is trying to schedule the match in May or June as more of our players from Europe will be available as their season will be over.
Guam should surprise some teams in their group. They have been recruiting quite a number of players from abroad, including a 1st division player from Denmark and a few MLS players. Their chances of advancing will depend on which teams they will be grouped with, as Guam will have to contend with one or more of the strong teams from Pot B. Right now they are getting plenty of experience playing strong teams like Australia and North Korea in the qualification for the East Asian championships which will help in their development. I think they will have a good chance of upsetting Taiwan in that tournament.
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Post by cjeagle on Dec 6, 2012 1:06:31 GMT 8
Guam ties Chinese Taipei 1-1 in the EAFF qualifiersfor its first ever result against that team in its history. Guam was leading most of the game until Taiwan scored at the end.
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Post by wenden96 on Dec 9, 2012 8:06:33 GMT 8
2 years is enough to train fthe homegrown youngster, this will be a preparation if our foreign base players is not available at that time.
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Post by strikerbon on Dec 11, 2012 17:17:26 GMT 8
so our group is composed with Turkmenistan,Brunei and Cambodia. time for revenge against the Turks! Brunei and Cambodia is beatable but.. the question is who will take the place of Cambodia? from what i know, they had back-out from this tourney
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Post by stellarboy on Dec 11, 2012 17:28:51 GMT 8
Here are the official draw results of the #AFCChallengeCup2014 Qualification Round slated on March 2013:
Group A: Myanmar, India, Chinese Taipei, Guam.
Group B: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Macau.
Group C: Laos, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Mongolia.
Group D: Nepal, Palestine, Bangladesh, Northern Mariana Islands.
Group E: Philippines, Turkmenistan, Cambodia, Brunei.
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Post by stellarboy on Dec 11, 2012 18:03:01 GMT 8
My fearless prediction in the qualification round:
Myanmar, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Palestine and the Philippines will top the groups, while the remaining two spots will be given to Bangladesh and Turkmenistan.
Group A is my group of death, following the recent rise of Guam in terms of performance, India desperate to recover from a bad 2012 tourney, Chinese Taipei's European recruits like Xavier Chen, and Myanmar being unpredictable in tourneys like these.
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Post by dingodile5 on Dec 11, 2012 20:01:42 GMT 8
In our group, Cambodia and Brunei seems beatable. My only concern here is Turkmenistan. In the past 2 meeting, we lost to TKM before but now, we have home advantage. I hope PHI will win all these games By the way, where do want to hold our qualifiers? Manila, Bacolod, Cebu etc.
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