Group C (host Nepal) Nepal Afghanistan Krgyzstan (winner advances to next round) Afghanistan 2 Krgyzstan 1 Afghanistan scorers: Sayeed Tahir Shah 26', Farid Azami 70' Krgyzstan scorers: Juma Gulov 60' "International football newcomer Afghanistan defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-1 Sunday in a Group C qualifying match for next year's Asian Cup in China." http://www.dailysoccer.com/?page=art&Article=5835&country=&offset=1&ref=hl This must be considered an upset.... Next game will be on Tuesday as the host Nepal plays Afghanistan. If Afghanistan beats Nepal, they will qualify for the next round of ACQ. The winner of Group C joins South Korea, Vietnam and Oman in the next round of qualifying. The other preliminary groups begin next week. India plays a home and away series against North Korea, and for awhile it wasn't clear if North Korea would host their home match. However, they will play on March 24 in Pyongyang (first leg).
According to this site... http://www.b2nepal.com/directory/asiacup/index.html ... they will have a live broadcast of the games in Nepal. Not sure if it is just a text update or an actual TV broadcast. Either way, it is a good site for line-ups, news and a gallery.
Nepal 4 Afghanistan 0 scorers: Nirajan Rayamajhi 35', Hari Khadaka 38', Nirajan Rayamajhi 88', Deepak Lama 89' Nepal only needs a tie in their last game to advance to the second round of qualifying. They can even lose and still advance.
Kyrgyzstan 2 Nepal 0 scorers: Viacheslav Pryanishnikov 28, 47 All three teams finished tied, but Nepal advances on goal differential. Kyrgyzstan only needed one more goal in the second half, but the Nepalese defence didn't break. Nepal only had one shot on goal the entire game. Three more groups start tomorrow (Asian time) Group B in Sri Lanka March 21 East Timor vs Sri Lanka March 23 Chinese Taipei vs East Timor March 25 Sri Lanka vs Chinese Taipei Group A in Maldives March 21 Maldives vs Brunei Darussalam March 23 Myanmar vs Brunei Darussalam March 25 Maldives vs Myanmar Group E in Singapore March 21 Macao vs Pakistan March 23 Singapore vs Macao March 25 Singapore vs Pakistan
Group E Pakistan 3 Macau 0 "Pakistan scored a 3-0 Asian Cup qualifying Group E win over Macau on Friday evening, Qadeer Ahmed grabbing a pair of goals while Sarfaraz Rasool, the AFC Player of January fired in Pakistan's third in injury time" http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_52861_E.html
Does anyone know a good source for news from North Korea? I've only found two online-newspapers. Thanks for your help. For the latest news from India: http://www.indianfootball.com
wow, didn't expect Macau to be that weak. I thought there were some good players in Macau. I guess I was wrong. Perhaps Pakistanis are better than I thought.
I've that site on my list... but thanks! I suppose KCNA is the "most popular" site from North Korea...
Not sure if you have this site on your list... http://news.asiadragons.com/world/northkorea/ Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they have any info on the DPR soccer team.
Group A Mar 21 Brunei 1 Maldives 1 Surprising result as Brunei are usually the whipping boys of anyone they play. "The Brunei football team defied their inferior world ranking to hold host Maldives to a shock 1-1 draw in their opening match of the 2003 Asian Cup qualifiers in Maldives on Friday evening." http://www.brunet.bn/news/bb/sunday/news/mar23s2.htm Brunei are one of the worst teams in the world (194th), but they hit the cross bar a few times against Maldives. If they had beat the Maldives, it would have been their first win since a 1-0 victory over the Philippines in 1996.
The dream is over for Brunei Group A Mar 23 Myanmar 5 Brunei 0 http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_52886_E.html Myanmar only needs a tie against Maldives to advance to the next round (Iraq, Bahrain, and Malaysia). Group B Mar 23 Chinese Taipei 3 East Timor 0 Chinese Taipei just needs a tie versus Sri Lanka to advance. Group E Mar 23 Singapore 2 Macau 0 Singapore has to beat Pakistan to advance to the next round. http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_52885_E.html
Thanks for the link Canadian_Supporter! An unconfirmed result from Group G: North Korea 3-0 India The 2nd leg will be played on Sunday at the Jawaharal Nehru Stadium, Goa.
2-0 is a much better result then 3-0! Being down two goals is not nearly as bad as three goals. That third goal can be a killer in a home and away series.
go India go!! I heard some big Indian corporations are beginning to take notice of the fact that soccer is growing in India and are investing in the IPL. True or not?
indian football is on it's way back to asia's top. the performances of the indian nationalteams at recent events helped to get back the attention of not only "normal" people, but also big companies. but everything is still at the beginning... there is still a long way to go. if anyone of you is interested to know more about indian football, then i would recommend you to buy the "International Indian Football Series 2002" magazine. this mag was published for the "International Indian Football Series 2002" tournament in Germany, which was won by the indian u17 nationalteam. the mag contains infos on the tournament, the indian football supporters club (ifsc), history of indian football and much more.... you will be able to know more about the glorious days of indian football. there was a time, when india was one of the best teams in asia and we reached the semifinals of the 1956 olympics in melbourne. price: € 2 euros + postage/packing the ifsc is using the money to build a youth football academy in india. so it would be great, if you buy the mag... if you are interested, you can contact me: click here to email me more on the ifsc: click here for the official ifsc website