Venues are listed on fifa.com fixtures 29.6 Afghanistan - Palestine in Tursunzade, Tajikistan 3.7 Palestine - Afghanistan in Al Ram http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/results/index.html#
If Indonesia banned, will Turkmenistan bye the 2nd round and qualify to group stage? Is there any chance for Saudi Arabia (ranked 6th in seeding list) bye the 2nd round and Turkmenistan will face Hong Kong instead?
No chance. Turkmenistan get a walkover victory, simple as. The luck of the draw pitted these nations together, you can't just go shifting things around otherwise you migth aswell not have a draw in place but just play rank 6 against rank 43, rank 7 against rank 42 for example.
The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of July 2011 would be used for the continental draws that will take place at the Preliminary Draw for this competition, with the exception of CONCACAF, who will use the March 2011 rankings, which were the ones used for the first round of the preliminary competition in that region. FIFA.com There must a be mistake...
At least they are being consistent: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/loc/01/44/46/14/2014fwc_drawprocedures_asia.pdf "The 20 Round Three teams will be allocated to 4 pots of 5 teams based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of July 2011. The top 5 teams will be placed in Pot 1; the next 5 best teams will be placed in Pot 2; and so on." J
http://footballafghanistan.com/news/04-06-2011/afghanistan-might-forfeit-palestine-match Football Afghanistan has received information in regard to a possible forfeiture of World Cup Qualifier second leg between Afghanistan and Palestine by Afghanistan Football Federation. Sources said Afghanistan is not traveling to Palestine for July 3rd match against Palestine which is due to be staged in Al-Ram in West Bank of Palestine. Afghanistan is concerned over the security of its players in the border and inside Palestine. In addition, the away visit might plague more instability inside Afghanistan. Afghanistan, like the majority of Muslim countries, does not recognize Israel as a state. Visit to Palestine needs issuance of a No Objection Certificate (NOC) by Israeli authorities. Last month, Palestine failed to obtain the NOC to play its two friendly matches against Pakistan which were scheduled on May 24 and 27 in the stadium that Afghanistan is due to meet Palestine. Sources added Afghanistan has already sent a request to AFC to change the venue of the second match to a neutral country. AFC has not responded to the letter yet.
Afghanistan Football Federation confirmed they have shared their concerns with AFC and FIFA during FIFA Congress over traveling to Palestine for the 2nd leg of WCQ. Furthermore, Speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Pajwhok News Agency "If there is any interference by Israel, the team will avoid traveling to Palestine." AFF also confirmed they have sent letters to AFC, FIFA and Palestine Football Federation informing them on their decision and requesting for change of the venues. Among AFF's proposals, playing both matches in Tajikistan also exist.
That would be a shame. Afghanistan and Palestine don't play a lot of matches in the course of a calendar year (Palestine gets 3-4 per year) and regardless of the result both team could use the match experience. The entire situation is unfortunate... but I have to say I prefer this to playing home matches abroad. It's too bad FIFA can't do more to stop Israeli interference, they still arbitrarily prevent some of our players from traveling with team.
I agree that both nations dont get many games, and then for these sorts of issues to arise, really unfortunate.
Tsang Wai-Chung will not be able to lead Hong Kong national team in Saudi Arabia as he has other commitments. Liu Chun-Fai, assistant coach at South China, will take his place. Saudi Arabia is going to thrash us.
Bryan Robson resigns as Thailand manager http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...nd-boss-health-related.html?ito=feeds-newsxml With Afghanistan set to withdraw from the second leg and Thailand losing its manager a month before qualifying starts up it looks like a pretty straightforward task for Palestine. Anything less than a spot in the final 20 would be a failure in my opinion.
You should hope that Afghanistan withdraw from the 2nd leg, otherwise if they do end up 'trying' to enter Palestine to play the 2nd leg and don't receive NOC as Pakistan didnt, then Afghanistan will be awarded a 3-0 result and should make them qualify for the 2nd round...
In your dreams.You're saying that if Israel objects to Afghanistan's entry FIFA and the AFC will punish Palestine? That makes no sense whatsoever. Maybe the match gets moved but there is no way Afghanistan is awarded a 3-0 result.
Last World Cup Qualifier, Singapore was awarded a 3-0 win over Palestine, when Palestine failed to travel to Singapore for the away match.
I think I read somewhere that you have appointed Ricardo Gomes as your coach. We will be no match for you...
FIFA denies Bangladesh request to move their away game against Pakistan from Pakistan because of security concerns. That would be an interesting game for Bangladesh after what happened to the Sri Lankan cricket team last time they visited.
Palestine: A largely domestic based squad picked for the game against Afghanistan. Most of the players were in the side that topped Group A in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers.