2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers: 3-0 wins awarded to PHL, other Group E teams on Brunei default

The 2014 Challenge Cup qualifiers saga has taken another turn, as the official website of the Asian Football Confederation now shows that Brunei has forfeited their matches 3-0 to their Group E opponents.

This automatically gives Cambodia, Turkmenistan and group hosts the Philippines a 3-0 win each. When a team fails to show up for a pre-scheduled game, they typically forfeit the match 3-0, and this is what the AFC has seemingly determined as a solution to Brunei’s announcement that they will no longer compete in their Group E qualifiers.

[Related: Brunei officially out of Challenge Cup qualifiers; Azkals ready to go]

After winning their groups, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Palestine are guaranteed places in the actual Challenge Cup in 2014, alongside the Maldives, which is hosting the competition.  The runners-up of each group in this qualification stage are also competing with each other for the last slots after the Group E winners are known and take the sixth spot out of eight.

Rather than invoking Appendix 2, which would have seen extreme confusion in the rule changes and Laos qualifying instead of Bangladesh as one of the two best runners-up, the AFC has deemed that as Brunei withdrew after the schedule had been arranged their games would be defaulted instead.

[Related: What Brunei's pull-out from the Challenge Cup means for the Philippines]

The AFC quietly made changes on their website, which incorporated Brunei's defaults. It also reinforces the two best runners-up spots, as currently occupied by Bangladesh top with six points and a goal difference of five, and India behind them with six points and a goal difference of four.

2006 champions Tajikistan is confirmed as eliminated after their 1-0 loss to Kyrgyzstan earlier on Thursday evening, which meant they finished second in their group with six points and a goal difference of three. Laos finished their group in second with five points and are eliminated under these rules, but if Appendix 2 had been used, they would have qualified.

Appendix 2

The rule changes of Appendix 2, which are the provisions for choosing the best runners-up when the groups are uneven in the Challenge Cup, would have meant that India, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, and Laos’ games against their group losers would have been considered “null and void.” The calculation for the best two runners-up would have therefore been made from their other two matches.

This would have been done to give a fair comparison of games for Group E, whose members would only have played two games each, compared to the three games of the countries in the other groups. Such a calculation would have seen Laos head the list of runners-up after they drew with group losers Mongolia 1-1, while the other three runners-up all beat their group losers and so would have lost three points.

There still appears to be some confusion over the rules however, as the Bangladeshi Football Federation is reporting on their website that Bangladesh’s qualification is uncertain now due to Brunei’s withdrawal. Given that the other groups finished their matches on the understanding of different rules before Brunei’s withdrawal, the AFC would certainly fall under heavy criticism in that case.

What it means for the Azkals

As such, and given the AFC’s website recording default 3-0 victories for the other teams in Group E rather than applying Appendix 2, it seems that the original rules will be kept and Bangladesh is assured of one spot, while India currently waits nervously for the results in Group E.

For the Philippines though, the best route is of course to top their group by winning their two games against Cambodia and Turkmenistan and claiming an automatic spot. That would leave no room for question and with possibly the best Azkals line-up ever released, it’s a real possibility.

With automatic 3-0 wins against Brunei, the Philippines or Turkmenistan could claim a best runners-up spot however, by beating Cambodia and a draw with Turkmenistan, or in the event of a loss to the Turkmen, finishing with a goal difference of five. With three points and a plus three goal difference already, this means that a victory over Cambodia by three goals and loss to Turkmenistan by one goal, for example, would see the Azkals qualify. More likely however, Turkmenistan and the Philippines will defeat Cambodia in their games and face each other on March 26 knowing a draw would send them both through.

Could Brunei be expelled from FIFA again?

With the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports releasing the first statement, even before the Brunei Football Association had informed the PFF of Brunei’s withdrawal, there are heavy suggestions that the “unavoidable circumstances” are political.

Government interference with national football is specifically prohibited by FIFA and led to Brunei’s banishment from international football in 2008, when the government disbanded the FA.

Brunei only returned to FIFA football in 2011, and this latest episode could well see severe consequences for Brunei football again.

Tickets will be refunded

With the rules seemingly cleared up, the Philippines can now focus on training for the qualifiers which start tomorrow, March 22, with Turkmenistan facing Cambodia.

The Philippine Football Federation has also wisely urged Ticketworld to refund any unused tickets for that matchday given that the Philippines versus Brunei match-up will no longer happen. Despite initially suggesting they wouldn’t refund tickets as there was still a game on that day, they eventually saw that most tickets were bought for the Philippines’ match and will likely refund any unused ticket for the March 22 gameday. - AMD, GMA News