AFC Under-22 Qualifiers: How could India qualify for the final Round?

The India Under-22s have played a great qualification campaign so far with seven points from four matches with a match against the hosts Oman on Tuesday, July 3 remaining. Our boys still have the chance to qualify for the final round of the inaugural AFC Under-22 Asian Championships, but certain things need to go our way for that to happen.

I'll try to go through the options how we could qualify for next years AFC Under-22 Asian Championships.

Whoever made the fixtures couldn't have worked out a more interesting last match day. Currently Iraq and the United Arab Emirates are top of the table with both teams on 10 points and they now face each other, while India and Oman are behind them on seven points and also face each other on match day 5.

As head-to-head statistics count in the AFC tournaments there is only one option through which India could directly qualify for the final rounds. That is if Iraq win against the UAE and India at the same time beat Oman. That would mean India and the UAE would then have 10 points, but India already have a better goal difference then the UAE and would go through on goal difference then the two sides played out a one-all draw. This would mean India would join Iraq in the final rounds.

But if the UAE win then India, if they beat Oman, only has a chance to progress as the best third placed side in the qualifiers. Why? Simply as India lost to Iraq 1-2 and have a negative head-to-head record against Iraq even if they have a better goal difference.

Now if Iraq and the United Arab Emirates play out a draw, then all these calculations are useless, then only the third place option remains, but that would only be decided once all qualification groups have been played.

A lot of maths, but as coach Arthur Papas has said let India first win against Oman, then all these calculations would come into play. Still we all hope for the best and a positive outcome for India...