2014 AFC Challenge Cup Teaser
The 2014 edition of the AFC Challenge Cup begins on the 19th of May. 8 teams have qualified for the finals, with the winner advancing to the 2015 Asian Cup. The 8 qualified nations are:
In the qualification period, there was quite a bit of controversy as Brunei withdrew from the competition at the last minute. This caused a massive shakeup in the 2nd place rankings. Bangladesh was brutally eliminated after qualifying via the previous rules. It was certainly a cruel fate. But the show must go on.
The groups in the 2014 Challenge Cup seem very even.
Group A consists of hosts Maldives, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Palestine. Palestine is currently our highest ranked team in the group, but Kyrgyzstan is always a dangerous team. Maldives as hosts also has to at least have a shot of making it out of the group. Myanmar appears to be the sitting duck in this group. They did knock out India in qualification, but those matches were played in Yangon. It’ll be a different story in a neutral venue.
Group B consists of a much tougher group. Philippines, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan all appear to be on a fairly level playing field. Philippines and Turkmenistan were in the same group in qualifying, and played virtually identical. Remove the Manila advantage from the equation, and you end up with an identical record and goal differential. Afghanistan, meanwhile, is flying high off of their SAFF Championship victory. Laos certainly is the favorite to finish last, but they aren’t much worse off than the rest of the teams. Our rankings believe only a goal separates them from the rest.
As opposed to writing a long, detailed preview of each individual match with the end result being found on our Predictions page, we will be trying something new this time around. We will be previewing each participating nation. The team previews may also feature some commentary from key players about the tournament, as well as other football and non-football related items.
This is something we are pretty excited about. It’s always great to get the perspective of the players as a tournament approaches. Be sure to stay connected to We Global Football on Twitter @We_Global. We will be posting team previews over the next few weeks and we’ll let you know there that they are available. We hope you are as excited about this tournament as we are. And if you’d like to fly us to the Maldives to cover the tournament in person, we’d be happy to do so.
Thanks for reading!
