Cambodia hosts Laos in the first of eight games in a busy first day of Asian FIFA World Cup qualifying. Already some of the eight sides are calling for victory, boldly stating that they are favorites to advance and will come through. Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines all love their chances to advance and will look to back up their talk come Wednesday.
I have listed the current ELO ratings for each team involved in round one. The most even matchup on paper is Pakistan versus Bangladesh, an interesting battle between two countries that were unified as one between 1947 and 1971, during which time Bangladesh was known as the West Bengal state within Pakistan. Those two teams played a scoreless draw in the 2009 SAFF Cup.
Other intriguing tilts include the rising Philippines against Sri Lanka and a battle between neighboring Laos and Cambodia, with Laos being the lowest-ranked favorite in any of the eight matchups. There is certain to be a buzz stirring in South and Southeast Asia with five teams emerging from the South Asian Football Federation and seven hailing from the Association of South East Asian Nations.
Malaysia have recent success upon which to fall back having won the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup with aggregate-goal victories over Vietnam and Indonesia in the knockout stages.
29 June 2011
#204 Laos at #211 Cambodia 3:00 Phnom Penh
#229 Timor-Leste at #187 Nepal 4:45 Kathmandu
#181 Myanmar at #210 Mongolia 5:30 Ulaan Bator
#184 Philippines at #192 Sri Lanka 5:30 Colombo
#155 Palestine at #203 Afghanistan 6:00 Tursunzoda, Tajikistan
#191 Pakistan at #190 Bangladesh 7:00 Dhaka#218 Macau at #141 Vietnam 7:15 Ho Chi Minh City
#194 Taiwan at #139 Malaysia 7:45 Kuala Lumpur
Pre-match interviews:
http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournaments/men-a-youth/fifa-world-cup/35471-arduous-2014-wc-journey-starts-wednesdayPreview:
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