2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round
The first round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification) was played from 12 to 23 March 2015.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 12-17 March 2015 |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 12 |
| Goals scored | 24 (2 per match) |
| Attendance | 89,973 (7,498 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Chencho Gyeltshen  Chan Vathanaka  Sunil Chhetri  Chiquito do Carmo[note 1] (2 goals each) |
← 2014 2022 → | |
Format
editA total of twelve teams (teams ranked 35–46 in the AFC entrant list) played home-and-away over two legs. The six winners advanced to the second round.
Seeding
editThe draw for the first round was held on 10 February 2015, 15:30 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[2]
The seeding was based on the FIFA World Rankings of January 2015 (shown in parentheses below).[3][4] The 12 teams were seeded into two pots:
- Pot A contained the teams ranked 1–6 (i.e., 35–40 in the AFC entrant list).
- Pot B contained the teams ranked 7–12 (i.e., 41–46 in the AFC entrant list).
Each tie contained a team from Pot A and a team from Pot B, with the team from Pot A hosting the first leg.
Note: Bolded teams qualified for the second round.
| Pot A | Pot B |
|---|---|
|
Summary
edit| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| India
|
2–0 |  Nepal
|
2–0 | 0–0 |
Yemen 
|
3–1 |  Pakistan
|
3–1 | 0–0 |
| East Timor
|
5-1[N 1] |  Mongolia
|
4–1[N 1] | 1–0[N 1] |
| Cambodia
|
4–1 |  Macau
|
3–0 | 1–1 |
Chinese Taipei 
|
2–1 |  Brunei
|
0–1 | 2–0 |
Sri Lanka 
|
1–3 | Bhutan
|
0–1 | 1–2 |
- Notes
Matches
edit| India | 2–0 | Nepal |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
India won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
| Pakistan | 0–0 | Yemen |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Yemen won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
| East Timor | 4–1 Forfeited[note 4][12] | Mongolia |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
| Mongolia | 0–1 Forfeited[note 4][12] | East Timor |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Timor-Leste won the first leg 4–1 and the second leg 1–0, thus winning 5–1 on aggregate and advancing to the Second round.
| Macau | 1–1 | Cambodia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Cambodia won 4–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
| Brunei | 0–2 | Chinese Taipei |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Chinese Taipei won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
| Bhutan | 2–1 | Sri Lanka |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Bhutan won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the second round.
Goalscorers
editThere were 24 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2 goals per match.
2 goals
1 goal
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d e f This player scored in one of the matches between Timor-Leste and Mongolia that was subsequently forfeited, however FIFA continued to count the goalscorers from those matches in its statistics.
- ^ Yemen played their home match in Qatar due to security concerns from the 2014–15 Yemeni coup d'état.[5]
- ^ a b Pakistan was originally scheduled to play their home match on 17 March 2015 (15:00 UTC+5) at Punjab Stadium, Lahore,[6] but it was postponed due to safety and security reasons after the Lahore church bombings and civil unrest in the city.[7][8] The match was subsequently rescheduled to be played in Bahrain.[9][10][11]
- ^ a b On 12 December 2017, Timor-Leste were ordered by the AFC to forfeit both matches against Mongolia due to the use of falsified documents for their players.
References
edit- ^ "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". AFC. 16 April 2014.
- ^ "India v Nepal headlines 2018 World Cup, 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers draw". AFC. 10 February 2015.
- ^ "Asian minnows begin World Cup mission". FIFA.com. 9 February 2015. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015.
- ^ "FIFA Men's Ranking – January 2015 (AFC)". FIFA.com. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015.
- ^ "Green-shirts resume camp ahead of major events". The News International (Pakistan). 13 February 2015. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ "FIFA Match Report: Pakistan v Yemen". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2015.
- ^ "Qualifier match between Pakistan and Yemen postponed". FIFA. 16 March 2015. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015.
- ^ "Pakistan versus Yemen qualifier postponed due to safety concerns". AFC. 17 March 2015.
- ^ "Pakistan 2018 FIFA World Cup tie switched from Lahore to Bahrain". IBN Live. Reuters. 18 March 2015. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
- ^ "Qualifying match between Pakistan and Yemen rescheduled". FIFA.com. 19 March 2015. Archived from the original on March 28, 2015.
- ^ "Pakistan versus Yemen qualifier rescheduled". AFC. 20 March 2015.
- ^ a b "Federacao Futebol Timor-Leste expelled from AFC Asian Cup 2023". The-AFC.com. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
External links
edit- Official FIFA World Cup website
- Qualifiers – Asia: Round 1, FIFA.com
- FIFA World Cup, the-AFC.com
- AFC Asian Cup, the-AFC.com
- Preliminary Joint Qualification 2018 Archived 2019-02-09 at the Wayback Machine, stats.the-AFC.com