New Delhi: It’s official. India have been drawn in Group D for the 2018 AFC World Cup Qualifiers, the draw for which took place at JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday (April 14, 2015).
Besides India, the others Teams in Group D are Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Guam. For the record, Iran, ranked 40th, are the highest ranked Asian Team in the FIFA Rankings at the moment, while Oman stay on 97.
India, courtesy their current FIFA Ranking (147 -- April 2015) were placed in Pot 3. India had jumped 26 places in the FIFA Rankings after they defeated Nepal 2-0 on aggregate in the Joint Preliminary Qualification Round 1 in March 2015.
India play their first match at Home against Oman on June 11, 2015 while the second match is slated for June 16, an away match against Guam.
Speaking exclusively to www.the-aiff.com, National Coach Stephen Constantine mentioned “all matches would be extremely difficult.”
“One doesn’t need to explain the strength of Iran and Oman. Iran are the highest ranked Asian Country while Oman are a very strong side,” he added.
“Regardless of the FIFA Rankings, I am aware of the difficulties of playing against Turkmenistan and Guam. Guam, in fact, have made tremendous progress in the last two years under a fellow English Coach.”
“It’s a tough draw but it’s always better t be in the draw than out of it and we will do all what is possible to get a result.”
GROUP D: Iran, Oman, India, Turkmenistan, Guam.
INDIA’S MATCHES:
June 11, 2015: India vs Oman
June 16, 2015: Guam vs India
September 8, 2015: India vs Iran
October 8, 2015: Turkmenistan vs India
October 13, 2015: Oman vs India
November 12, 2015: India vs Guam
March 24, 2016: Iran vs India
March 29, 2016: India vs Turkmenistan
