All set for Olympic qualifying second round

AFC – KUALA LUMPUR, The campaign of Asian teams to grab the three automatic places in next year’s London Olympics Football Tournament continues on Saturday when the first leg of second round qualifying kicks off with 12 matches played around the continent. Another berth is available for Asia through a continental playoff.

Eleven teams came through the first round that saw the continent’s lowest-ranked sides (based on the qualifiers and tournament proper at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing) clash over two legs (23 February and March 9) to join the 13 highest ranked teams in the second round.

India came through the first round with a 3-2 victory over Myanmar but now need to dip into their deepest reserves of strength and determination when playing West Asian powers Qatar in the second round at the latter’s home turf at the Al Sadd Stadium.

Palestine lost to Thailand in the first round but now find themselves in the second round, thanks to an administrative goof-up by their rivals which saw a suspended player being fielded and the match forfeited to Palestine 3-0 . Keen to build on this opportunity, the Palestinians be looking for a good result against second round rivals Bahrain.

Malaysia have been rewarded with a second round berth against strong West Asians Lebanon after a facile win over Pakistan in the first round. They travel to Beirut for the first leg.

Saudi Arabia are expected to have it easy against Vietnam as are Uzbekistan against Hong Kong.

All eyes, however, will be on the encounter between archrivals Iraq and Iran with the opening leg scheduled at the Francouse Hariri Stadium.

Iraq, who stole the limelight by making it to the semi-finals of the 2004 Athens Olympics under Adnan Hamad, are aiming to play in the Olympics for the fifth time after 1980, 1984, 1988 and 2004.

Their archrivals Iran reached the quarter-finals of the 1976 Montreal Olympics and also qualified for the next edition in Moscow but did not take part in the finals. They are bidding to make it to the biggest sporting extravaganza for the fifth time after 1964, 1972, 1976 and 1980.

The 12 winners from this round will advance to the third round whose draw is scheduled for July 7 at AFC House.

The 12 teams will be divided into three groups of four teams each in the third round and play on a home-and-away format from September 21, 2011, to March 14, 2012, determining the winners who will represent the continent in the Olympics. Three second-placed teams from the third round will clash in a playoff at a centralised venue from March 25 to 29, 2012, and the winners of this group will meet the representatives of CAF for a berth in the Olympics.