Soccer: With nothing to lose, Cambodia will be all out to swing the balance in their favour on Sunday
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:43:57 -0700
Aspirants out to preserve dream(FIFA.com) Friday 26 October 2007
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Thank you. Your FIFA.com story has been successfully e-mailed to your
friend(s).Football fans across Asia will be treated to an intriguing
night of football on Sunday when the decisive return legs of the
continent's first round of qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
South Africa™ take place. With Thailand already through to the second
stage following an emphatic 13-2 aggregate win over Macau, the
remaining 32 teams will have to battle it out to join them.
Central Asian power Uzbekistan, who beat Chinese Taipei 6-2 on
aggregate in their preliminary qualifier for the previous FIFA World
Cup, emulated their feat by firing nine unanswered goals past the
visiting islanders in Tashkent for the biggest win of the opening
matchday. With pride at stake, Chinese Taipei will unquestionably give
it their all in the return fixture, which will take place in front of
their own fans, but few will bet against the former Soviet Republic
easing through.
In recording 7-0 wins over Pakistan and Myanmar respectively, the
newly-crowned Asian champions Iraq and China PR also put the two-
legged ties effectively beyond doubt. China's new coach Vladimir
Petrovic, who got his tenure off to a dream start, may even afford a
couple of his younger charges a place in the starting line-up for the
second leg, which will be staged on neutral ground in Malaysia: "We
are thinking of fielding some young players to give them more
international exposure and experience," he revealed.
Bahrain and Korea DPR, who both reached Asia's last eight in the
qualifying campaign for Germany 2006, should have few problems in
their return meetings with Malaysia and Mongolia, against whom they
cruised to the same 4-1 victories earlier this month.
All to play for
Perhaps the most evenly balanced tie could be the clash between
Vietnam and United Arab Emirates. The two sides have developed a
strong rivalry since July's AFC Asian Cup, when the South-east Asians
pulled off a 2-0 reverse of UAE, a result that helped the co-hosts
storm into the quarter-finals for the first time in their history. It
was the West Asians, however, who stole the show in the first leg,
Basheer Al Hammadi scoring the only goal eleven minutes from time.
To compliment his young charges with more experience, Vietnam's
Austrian coach Alfred Riedl called up veteran midfielder Tran Truong
Giang, who helped his country to bronze in the South-east Asian
Football Championship in 2002. Truong Giang will likely form a
partnership alongside emerging talent Nguyen Vu Phong, who scored five
of Vietnam's nine goals in their qualifying campaign for the Men's
Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008..
Neighbouring Cambodia will be hoping to pull off an upset against
Turkmenistan. Having long been regarded as underdogs, even in the
regional competition, the minnows defended gallantly in the first leg
meeting at the National Olympic Stadium of Phnom Penh, only allowing
their formidable rivals to claim a slender win. With nothing to lose,
Cambodia will be all out to swing the balance in their favour on
Sunday.
Elsewhere, Bangladesh, following a goalless draw at home to
Tajikistan, will enter their second leg seeking a score-draw, which
will be enough to see them through on away goals, or better.
Asian qualifying zone, first round, second leg fixtures:
October 26
Afghanistan - Syria
October 28
Malaysia v Bahrain
Tajikistan v Bangladesh
Turkmenistan v Cambodia
Myanmar v China PR
Jordan v Kyrgyzstan
India v Lebanon
DPR Korea v Mongolia
Nepal v Oman
Iraq v Pakistan
Singapore v Palestine
Qatar v Sri Lanka
Hong Kong v Timor Leste
Chinese Taipei v Uzbekistan
United Arab Emirates v Vietnam
Maldives Republic v Yemen
.
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