Kuala Lumpur: Five teams will move one step closer to qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates when the qualifying play-off round gets underway on Thursday.
The first round of the play-offs will see ten countries lock horns over two legs, with the five victors advancing to third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.
The five defeated teams will join Bhutan in the next phase of the play-offs, which will take place on September 6 and October 11 to battle it out for three more spots in the third qualifying round.
Here, the-afc.com casts its eye over the pivotal clashes that will take place in the first week of June.
CHINESE TAIPEI v CAMBODIA
1st leg: National Stadium, Kaohsiung City (June 2)
2nd leg: National Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh (June 7)
Two of only three teams that finished bottom of their group after failing to pick up a single point in the previous round of qualifiers, Chinese Taipei and Cambodia go head-to-head to see who makes it to the third qualifying round and who joins Bhutan, the third of the pointless trio, and four other sides in another series of play-offs later in the year.
After a 4-1 aggregate win over Macau in the first round, Cambodia found it heavy going right from losing their opening match 4-0 at home to Singapore, but there were still moments for optimism during their Group E campaign, with the Cambodians going down to a battling 2-1 defeat in the return fixture in Singapore and restricting four-time AFC Asian Cup winners Japan to a narrow 2-0 victory, with the East Asian giants taking the lead via a 51st minute own goal before sealing the win at the death courtesy of a 90th minute strike from 2011 AFC Asian Cup MVP Keisuke Honda.
Chinese Taipei also took part in the first round of qualifiers, overcoming a 1-0 first-leg loss in Kaohsiung City to defeat Brunei 2-0 in the Southeast Asian sultanate. They went on to show glimpses of their potential in the second round, where they were holding Vietnam to a 1-1 draw before conceding in second-half stoppage time and then twice taking the lead against Thailand before letting in two in the space of two minutes to go down 4-2 to the four-time ASEAN champions in Bangkok.
LAOS v INDIA
1st leg: National Stadium, KM16, Vientiane (June 2)
2nd leg: Indira Gandhi Stadium, Guwahati (June 7)
One of the most experienced teams in the play-offs, 1964 AFC Asian Cup runners-up India are looking to continue on the road that will ultimately leads them to taking part in the continental finals for a fourth time.
The reigning South Asian champions have had a disappointing campaign so far, however. After defeating regional rivals Nepal 2-0 on aggregate to advance to the second round, India picked up just three points - from a 1-0 home win over Guam - as Stephen Constantine’s side finished bottom of Group D.
Laos also had a difficult time in the qualifiers but will have learned valuable lessons in their heavy defeats to 2015 AFC Asian Cup finalists Korea Republic and Lebanon as the Southeast Asians brought up the rear in Group G, ending their campaign with a creditable 2-2 draw against higher-ranked regional rivals Myanmar.
MALAYSIA v TIMOR-LESTE
1st leg: Stadium Tan Sri Dato Hj Hassan Yunos, Johor Bahru (June 2)
2nd leg: Stadium Tan Sri Dato Hj Hassan Yunos, Johor Bahru (June 6)
After a turbulent second round campaign that saw a record-breaking 10-0 loss to the UAE and a 6-0 defeat to Palestine, Malaysia will be looking to steady the ship as the 2015 AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) Championship runners-up renew acquaintances with Timor-Leste, who they met in Group A of the previous phase.
The Malaysians may have home field advantage over both legs of the play-off, with a squad boasting numerous players from AFC Cup holders Johor Darul Ta’zim, who are based at the Tan Sri Dato Hj Hassan Yunos Stadium, but they will by no means be underestimating their lower-ranked regional rivals.
After a late leveller gave Timor-Leste a 1-1 draw in Kuala Lumpur, the Timorese made 2015 AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists the UAE work hard for their narrow 1-0 victory and held Palestine to a 1-1 draw before Malaysia edged a 1-0 win in Dilli, a score that ultimately contributed to them finishing two points behind the 2007 AFC Asian Cup co-hosts at the foot of Group A.
MALDIVES v YEMEN
1st leg: National Stadium, Male (June 2)
2nd leg: Al Arabi Stadium, Doha (June 7)
The Maldives may be consistently much higher up the FIFA rankings than Yemen but the 2008 South Asian champions will well wary of the West Asians when the Indian Ocean islanders, who finished fourth in Group C courtesy of two victories over Bhutan, take on the side that finished bottom of Group H.
The security situation in their homeland has meant Yemen have had to play their home fixtures at neutral venues and while this could be considered to put them at a slight disadvantage, they have proved difficult opponents on their travels. They restricted two-time AFC Challenge Cup winners DPR Korea and Uzbekistan - who have reached the knockout stage of the last four AFC Asian Cups - to narrow 1-0 wins in Pyongyang and Tashkent respectively, and also recorded an impressive 1-0 triumph over the Philippines in Manila.
The Maldives, meanwhile, have shown they can be a match for Asian football’s stronger sides at home as Qatar discovered when the Group C winners needed a goal eight minutes into second-half stoppage time to open their campaign with a narrow victory in Male.
TAJIKISTAN v BANGLADESH
1st leg: Republican Central Stadium, Dushanbe (June 2)
2nd leg: Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka (June 7)
Tajikistan will go into the play-off against Bangladesh with the psychological upper hand having taken four points from their two matches with the 2003 South Asian champions in Group B of the second round of qualifiers.
Fathullo Fathuloev’s 88th minute equaliser in Dhaka saw the first meeting between the two end in a 1-1 draw - earning Bangladesh their only point of the campaign - before Manucher Dzhalilov struck four times as the Tajiks ran out comfortable 5-0 winners in Dushanbe.
While bottom-of-the-table Bangladesh and Tajikistan both struggled against AFC Asian Cup holders Australia and an impressive Jordan side, the Tajiks pushed third-place finishers Kyrgyzstan hard in the two games between the Central Asian neighbours, with an equalising penalty four minutes into second-half stoppage time denying them a 2-1 victory in Bishkek before a solitary goal at the Republican Central Stadium consigned Tajikistan to a 1-0 defeat in the home fixture.
Photos: Asiana.my, AFP
Source: the-afc.com