Afghanistan was on the verge of withdrawing from World Cup qualifiers after a funding dispute between their football federation and Olympic committee. However the dispute seems to have been resolved and Team-e-Melli should be in Tajikistan by now.
The delay has caused damage to their preparations with coach Yousef Kragar resigning and their preparatory friendly with Tajikistan now doubtful.
From the Palestine training camp in Amman, Bezaz has affirmed the readiness of the players for the two-legged playoff and says the team will strive to overcome the absence of key defenders Roberto Bishara and Abdel-Latif Bahdari. Bishara has not been released by Palestino and Bahdari has not been able to leave Gaza.
[UPDATE]
The PFA released a report from the camp and it appears Roberto Bishara made the trip as planned after all. Al-Ayaam earlier reported that Palestino refused to release him. I thought this sounded strange as the Chilean Clausara doesn’t kick off for another month…
