3. Chance to qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup
Trending
India are already out of World Cup contention. As much as Constantine has tried to tinker with the lineups in the recent qualifiers to blood some young players, they are mathematically out of contention now that they are bottom of the group with just one win.
However, the AFC Asian Cup is still a possibility. Among the eight groups in Asia, the four best fourth-placed teams move on to the Asian Cup qualifying third round. The other four fourth-placed teams go into a playoff to qualify.
But the bad news is that India are currently fifth – four points behind fourth-placed Guam (who have just one game left). The good news is that their goal difference is better than Guam but Iran could change that drastically.
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iran | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 14 |
| 2 | Oman | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 11 |
| 3 | Turkmenistan | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 10 |
| 4 | Guam | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 15 | -12 | 7 |
| 5 | India | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 3 |
If India are to qualify, they must ideally get at least a draw against Iran and beat Turkmenistan in Kochi on 29 March. At the same time, Guam should lose their final game against Oman. The Indian team would have definitely achieved some sort of a miracle if they manage to qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
