AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: Can India qualify for main event? – Dheeraj Singh’s goalkeeping heroics against the Kyrgyz Republic meant India kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup. India drew 0-0 with Kyrgyz but a penalty shootout determined the 2nd spot as both the teams were with the same points, goals and goal differences. While the second spot gives teams a path to the main event, can India qualify?
India’s path will be difficult for a variety of reasons. UAE with 6 points from three games finished at the top of Group E and booked their berth in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup. For India, they had to win and also needed a better goal difference to pip UAE and book a berth. But their 0-0 draw has complicated matters. Their qualification isn’t at their hands.
And that’s the end of that! India win the penalty shootout to finish 2nd in Group E of the U-23 @afcasiancup!
🇮🇳 (4) 0-0 (2) 🇰🇬
IND: ✅✅✅❌✅
KGZ: ❌❌✅✅📺 https://t.co/XgltsiPr88
✍️ https://t.co/9AEv53fefP#INDKGZ ⚔️ #AFCU23 🏆 #BackTheBlue 💙 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/x3SiQrZyta— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) October 30, 2021
AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: India finish 2nd in Group E but can they qualify? Check out
Also Read: AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: Dheeraj Singh’s shootout heroics secure 2nd Group E spot for India
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the man of the moment 🤩@dhee_singh01 👏👏👏#INDKGZ ⚔️ #AFCU23 🏆 #BackTheBlue 💙 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/tY4k5SmC2S
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) October 30, 2021
AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: How can India qualify?
- India’s qualification hopes will rely on the other 10 groups.
- Including Group E (India’s group), barring one all groups’ second-placed teams are eligible for qualification.
- All second-placed teams will be pooled in and ranked based on their performance.
- Top four second-placed teams will qualify for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
- But it is not as straightforward as it seems. Although most of the second-placed teams have played three matches, their result against fourth-placed sides will not be considered.
- That means India’s win against Oman will not be considered for the second-placed team’s ranking. That is because Group G has two teams Australia and Indonesia due to pullouts.
- India beat Oman 2-1 but it will not be considered as Oman finished 4th in Group E.
- It means India are all but out of contention as India have only 1 point from the other two matches (lost to UAE, drew with Kyrgyz).
- India are currently placed ninth in the 10-team probables with Bahrain, Iran, Turkmenistan and Myanmar best-placed sides to qualify.
AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: India finish 2nd in Group E but can they qualify? Check out
AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: Where does India rank?
| Pos | Group | Team | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | C | Bahrain (Q) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | B | Iran (Q) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | F | Turkmenistan (Q) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | I | Myanmar (Q) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | K | Cambodia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | -2 |
| 6 | H | Singapore | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | J | Thailand | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | A | Syria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | E | India | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| 10 | D | Saudi Arabia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: India finish 2nd in Group E but can they qualify? Check out
