[From: the-afc.com]
Kuala Lumpur: The hosts for the four qualifying groups of the AFC Challenge Cup 2012 have been confirmed by AFC.
Group A will be hosted by Myanmar in Yangon. The teams in this group are: Myanmar, Bangladesh, Palestine, and the winners of the pre-qualification match between Mongolia and the Philippines (second leg) on 15 March (The Philippines won the first leg 2-0). The match days are 21, 23 and 25 March.
Group B will be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the participating teams are 2008 champions India, Pakistan, Chinese Taipei and Turkmenistan. The match days are 21, 23 and 25 March.
Group C will be hosted by Maldives in Male. The teams are: Maldives, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Cambodia. The match days are 21, 23 and 25 March.
Group D will be played in Kathmandu, Nepal. The teams are: Nepal, 2010 champions DPR Korea, Sri Lanka, and the winners of the pre-qualification match between Bhutan and Afghanistan (23 and 25 March). The match days are 7, 9 and 11 April.
Good. Pakistan will have a certain edge over other because they already have played in ground and know the ground well then others .. and will have more fans then others ;)
Can somebody share the result of today’s match?
postponed
n BTW why AFC looked for a neutral ground for Group B?
None of the teams in Group B bid for hosting it. Pakistan probably did but because of security reasons AFC did not entertain, India is hosting Cricket World Cup, not sure about Turkmenistan….
4th AFC Challenge Cup
Chinese Taipei clear play-off: meet Pakistan on 25 March
Lahore, 20 February: Chinese Taipei booked their ticket to the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and clash with Pakistan on 25 March after a 1-1 draw with Laos in the second-leg of their pre-qualifying playoff sealed a 6-3 aggregate win for the East Asians. Pakistan are in Group B and their other matches will be against India (23 March) and Turkmenistan (21 March). All three matches will be held at Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Laos were left with a proverbial mountain to climb following their 5-2 first-leg defeat in Chinese Taipei and things were to get worse for the ASEAN side when Chen Po-Liang made it two goals in two matches with a 65th minute opener. Vongchiengkham Soukaphone reduced arrears with eight minutes left to play but it was too little too late for Laos, who were reduced to ten men after substitute Konekham Inthammavong – who only entered the field in the 72nd minute – was sent off after being booked in the 80th and 86th minutes.
Meanwhile at Estádio Campo Desportivo, Taipa, Sam El Nasa’s extra-time winner sealed Cambodia’s place in the qualifiers as the ASEAN side advanced with a 5-4 aggregate win over Macau. El Nasa scored twice as the Cambodians won 3-1 in the first-leg in Phnom Penh before a goal from Thailand-based striker Khim Borey on the stroke of half-time extended their advantage. Cambodia appeared to be cruising until Macau levelled the tie with three goals in the space of 13 minutes.
Vernon Wong’s 62nd minute strike sparked Macau’s fight back before Leong Ka Hang – scorer of the former Portuguese colony’s crucial away goal in the first leg – added a 73rd minute second. Just two minutes later the contest was all square courtesy of Vinicio de Jesus Morais Alves but Macau couldn’t capitalise on their dominance and the match went into extra-time, where it was settled by El Nasa’s 107th minute winner. Cambodia’s victory places them in qualification Group C where they will face inaugural Challenge Cup champions Tajikistan, the Maldives and Kyrgyzstan.
Chinese Taipei and Laos were two of the eight lowest-ranked teams out of 20, which entered the fray, played off on a home-and-away basis and the four winners will qualify for the 16-team group phase. The other two play-offs Philippines vs Mongolia and Bhutan/Afghanistan will be decided next month.
Draws of AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers
Group-A at Yangon ( Myanmar)
21 March : Myanmar v Mongolia/Philippines, Palestine v Bangladesh
23 March : Palestine v Mongolia/Philippines, Bangladesh v Myanmar
25 March: Myanmar v Palestine, Bangladesh v Mongolia/Philippines
Group B at Kuala Lumpur ( Malaysia)
21 March: Pakistan v Turkmenistan, India v Chinese Taipei
23 March: Pakistan v India, Chinese Taipei v Turkmenistan
25 March: Turkmenistan v India, Pakistan v Chinese Taipei
Group C at Male ( Maldives)
21 March: Tajikistan v Kyrgyzstan, Maldives v Cambodia
23 March: Kyrgyzstan v Maldives, Cambodia v Tajikistan
25 March: Tajikistan v Maldives, Cambodia v Kyrgyzstan
Group D at Kathmandu ( Nepal)
7 April : North Korea v Sri Lanka, Nepal v Afghanistan/Bhutan
9 April : Sri Lanka v Afghanistan/Bhutan, Nepal v North Korea
11 April :North Korea v Afghanistan/Bhutan, Nepal v Sri Lanka
Nice 1…
Looking forward to it….
Pakistan should have a good mixture of Over-seas & Local boys in the playing XI with Yousuf Butt guarding the Pakistani Nets !!!
GO Pakistan GO………