2014 WC Asian Qualifiers

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Round 1 kicks off today:

MALAYSIA-CHINESE TAIPEI

BANGLADESH-PAKISTAN

CAMBODIA-LAOS

SRI LANKA-PHILIPPINES

AFGHANISTAN-PALESTINE

VIETNAM-MACAU

NEPAL-TIMOR LESTE

MONGOLIA-MYANMAR

Cambodia are playing Laos at the Olympic Stadium today so I'll wander down to catch the match. The entry is USD1 for the stadium and USD0.25 for the outer. Dizzying prices! If you buy a Cambodian supporters shirt for USD3.80 it counts as a free ticket to the stadium.

Apparently Afghanistan have to play at a neutral venue which is a pity but understandable.

My tips for the first round:
Malaysia 4-0
Bangladesh 2-1
Cambodia 2-1
Philippines 0-2
Palestine 0-3
Vietnam 7-0
Nepal 2-1
Mongolia-Myanmar draw 1-1

The World Cup commences

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My tips for the first round:
Malaysia 4-0
Bangladesh 2-1
Cambodia 2-1
Philippines 1-1
Palestine 0-3
Vietnam 7-0
Nepal 2-1
Mongolia-Myanmar draw 1-1

Not too bad in my tipping . Actual results were:

Malaysia 2-1
Bangladesh 3-0
Cambodia 4-2 (great game - the two deadball strikes from #16 from Laos were absolute crackers)
Philippines - game didn't play for some reason
Palestine 2-0
Vietnam 6-0
Nepal 2-1
Mongolia 1-0

return leg is on the 3rd

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Results are in

Teams to go through are:
Malaysia over Taiwan on away goals (lucky, lucky boys)
Laos after Cambodia gave up it's two goal buffer in normal time and put two more past the hapless Khmers in extra time
Palestine despite the Afghans showing some pluck in the West Bank
Vietnam with a ridiculous cricket score over Macau
Nepal with poor old Timor playing both games in Katmandu
Philippines overcame their shock draw with Sri Lanka with a solid return leg
Bangladesh over Pakistan, always a grudge match in any sport

Round two kicks off 23rd of July

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Round 2:
Thailand-Palestine
Lebanon-Bangladesh
China PR-Laos
Turkmenistan-Indonesia
Kuwait-Philippines
Oman-Myanmar
Saudi Arabia-Hong Kong
Iran-Maldives
Syria-Tajikistan
Qatar-Vietnam
Iraq-Yemen
Singapore-Malaysia
Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan
United Arab Emirates-India
Jordan-Nepal

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My picks to progess are in bold

Group A

China PR
Jordan
Iraq
Singapore

This group looks pretty straight forward for China and Iraq

Group B

Korea Republic
Kuwait
United Arab Emirates
Lebanon

This is probably the easiest group IMO Korea should send out their U23 side for a few of these matches.

Group C

Japan
Uzbekistan
Syria
Korea DPR

With the Uzies doing very well at the U17 I feel some of that form will hopefully put them in good stead. I just get the feeling DPR's form will run out eventually

Group D

Australia
Saudi Arabia
Oman
Thailand

I can see Oman creating an upset here but in the end the Saudi's should be too good.

Group E

Iran
Qatar
Bahrain
Indonesia

I hope to get to see Serg for Indo I don't know how much of a help he will be. This is the toughest group to pick IMO. Iran should make it thru but Qatar and Bahrain are both quality. I picked Qatar cos if they don't make it thru they'll be even more of a laughing stock.

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By and large a good bet, though you never really know what will happen re: Qatar and Bahrain. Given that Bahrain put some of their best players in jail recently though I would suggest they may not be the most stable of sides.

I agree with the Uzbek/North Korea assertion.

I would tip Oman for an upset over Saudi though. The Gulf Cup form of the boys from Muscat followed by their performance against China (u23s) puts them as the team most likely to cause an upset in my books.

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First day is over and:

Group A:
Singapore took an early lead however went down 2-1 away to China. In all I think they will take many positives from this match.
Iraq 0 - Jordan 2; a good result for Jordan indeed.

Group B:
Korea 6 - Lebanon 0; result says it all really
UAE 2- Kuwait 3; great result for Kuwait, though they were 3-0 up at the 80 minute mark before they took their foot off the pedal and almost threw the game away

Group C:
Japan 1- North Korea 0; Japan left it very, very late however pretty well dominated the game
Tajikistan 0 - Uzbekistan 1; kudos to the Tajiks for holding out the White Wolves for most of the match. Evergreen Shatskikh saved the Uzbeks blushes.

Group D:
Australia 2 - Thailand 1; nervous moments however hats off to the Thais who parked the bus and played with discipline.
Oman 0 - Saudi 0; good for us, bad for them. I like it.

Group E:
Iran 3 - Indonesia 0; 3 goals in 5 minutes for the Iranians which marred an otherwise decent outing for the Indonesians.
Bahrain 0 - Qatar 0; from all accounts a very dull affair

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There were some very interesting results in the latest round of qualifiers however the following stood out for me:

Singapore 0 - Jordan 3 : Jordan seemed to be building on their momentum from the Asian Cup and could be shaping as a real chance for 2014. A good news story for West Asian Football

Thailand 0 - Saudi 0 : Thailand really needed the 3 points here. They now basically need to win on the road which may prove too much in Saudi Arabia.

North Korea 0 - Uzbekistan 1 : A superb result for the White Wolves and the toughest group in this round may well see the 2010 qualifiers, North Korea, out before the final stage of qualifying for 2014.

In all it has been a good round of football.