Olympic friendlies 15.3 Kuwait Olympic - Palestine NT 2-0 25.3 Kuwait Olympic - North Korea Olympic 25.3 Oman Olympic - Syria Olympic 27.3 Qatar Olympic - Russia Olympic 28.3 Kuwait Olympic - North Korea Olympic 29.3 Jordan Olympic - Syria Olympic
Friendlies : Saudi Arabia Olympic - Switzerland U21 1-2 Oman Olympic - Syria Olympic 1-1 Kuwait Olympic - North Korea Olympic postponed to tomorrow because of bad weather
2nd ROUND MATCH-UPS Qatar vs India Iraq vs Iran Bahrain vs Thailand Australia vs Yemen Japan vs Kuwait Syria vs Turkmenistan DPR Korea vs UAE Korea Republic vs Jordan Uzbekistan vs Hong Kong Saudi Arabia vs Vietnam China vs Oman Lebanon vs Malaysia http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournamen...4081-iraq-iran-clash-highlight-of-olympics-r2
We are drawn with Uzbekistan again... hopefully we beat them as we did in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
I'm interested in the Lebanon -Malaysia games, making sure that a relativley smallish nation gets into the group stages.
In Guangzhou we played with U23 + 3 overage players. Now we are playing with our U21. I think everyone has to follow that rule without exception.
Just our luck. Unless Japan pull out of the qualifiers, there's no way we're going through to the final round. Speaking of Japan, I wish their nation and people a speedy recovery during these bad times. The media around here is too busy dealing with regional turmoils but I heard another earthquake hit them earlier today. I really hope they come out of this mess.
http://www.aljazeerasport.net/news/football/2011/04/201142494756534843.html According to a source within the Palestinian FA the AFC will reverse the result of the Palestine-Thailand qualifier because the Thai FA presented fake documents to register one of their players illegally (the player was on the bench for the return leg). The source asked for his name not to be given.
A Bahraini outlet is also reporting the news... Could this actually be true? http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=304981
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/235051/thailand-facing-olympic-ban It looks like Thailand might actually be kicked out of Olympic Qualifying!
Wish we had grabbed a second goal in the return leg to render the suspension a moot point... But we'll take it. We might have a decent shot at seeing off Bahrain in the second round if the AFC rejects Thailand's appeal.
This is the viewpoint coming out of Thailand, which I do personally think is a valid point, although won't really help us now. Here it is: This is a ridiculous decision by AFC (and subsequently FIFA). If the player was banned in an U-19 tournament back in 2008, surely the FAT could point to any FIFA/AFC fixture for which he was eligible in the past 3 years as serving his ban? The fact they're punishing him in an U-23 competition for an U-19 offence, would indicate that any U-19, U-21, U-23 or senior side fixture between 2008 and 2011 would surely fit the bill? (6 AFC Cup qualifiers, for instance). It is possible that something more sinister is going on.