TheAfghanistan FA have informed the AFC that they will not be participating in Challenge Cup Qualifiers this week. As a result Al-Fursan will only be playing two matches, against Nepal on the 26th and against Kyrgyzstan on the 30th.
This has some implications for qualifying, because there are less teams, there are less point to go around in our group. Meaning that topping the group is virtually the only route to the finals. I personally think that each team in the group should be awarded 3 points in order to level the playing field, but knowing the AFC they aren’t open to logical thinking and good ideas.
In any case, we are sorry that the Afghan team couldn’t make the trip, we have experienced such angst before with our own national team. To not play, is worse than crushing defeat. Best of luck to the Afghanistan National Team in the future.