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Can India qualify for 2018 FIFA World cup:

You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you

get.Michael Phelps.

Amidst the crescendo of another ICC orld cup the much !eleaguered

supporters of Indian foot!all are dreaming. "reaming surreptitiously a!out

the !lue tigers playing in a #I#A $orld Cup. %n & thof March India

defeated (epal )* in the pre)+ualifiers for #I#A $orld Cup *&.-nlie

pre/ious years the tie at 0uahati generated unprecedented e1citement

and e1pectation among a huge num!er of people all across India. These

mostly young fans ha/e seen the desi !oys fighting nec and nec ith

orld class players in the inaugural edition of the hugely successful I23.

This year4s I)3eague is itnessing argua!ly the !est standard of foot!alle/er in its history. %n his second stint, national coach 2tephen Constantine

introduced se/en de!utants for the tie and that ored onders. The score

line of )* fails to depict the dominance of the Indians. It as pro!a!ly the

most con/incing in for India o/er its 5imalayan neigh!or in recent past.

Con2till not many ill dare to thin that India ill +ualify for *& #I#A

orld cup. After all only 6& teams, host 7ussia !eing the automatic

+ualifier, can mae it to the 6 nation mega e/ent. $ith India4s present

#I#A raning of &86, loest e/er,it loos impro!a!le in all practicality !ut itis certainly not impossi!le. $ith a little luc, !aced !y a!o/e par

performance, India might progress farthest in the $C +ualifiers this time.

9/en if India narroly misses the !us to :ra;il, it might still, at the least,

find a place in the *&< A#C Asian Cup *&

The qualifying structure for the AFC:

#or *& $orld Cup there ould ?)@ slots for A#C. The +ualifying structure

is as follos

The First round:

In the preliminary +ualifying playoffs among & !ottom raned nations of

A#C ill , India is to play (epal on &8thMarch in Bathmandu for the second

leg.

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The Second ound:

The dra for the second round ill tae place on && April *&@.

inners from first round ill Doin 6? higher raned teams. These teams

ill !e di/ided into fi/e groups of eight teams each. 7ound ro!in ties ill

tae place !eteen Eune*&@ to March *&.

The third round:

group inners and !est four from the second placed teams ill !e di/ided

into to groups of si1 to play home)and)aay round)ro!in matches. If the

same num!er of slots allocated to the A#C as the pre/ious $orld Cup F?.@!erthsG, the top to teams of each group ill +ualify for the *& #I#A

$orld Cup, and the to third)placed teams ill ad/ance to the fourth round.

oad ahead for tea! India:

India enDoys a

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time to prepare for the second round in case it progresses. -ltimately

it ill come don to holding off to strong nations 3et us assume

that , apart from a dream dra, it ill hard for India to finish at top of

the group. 5oe/er, it is the second position that should !e the target

of the !lue tigers. To do that India ill ha/e to edge past three teamson aggregate in home and aay round ro!in matches.In the case of

India finishing third,the orld cup dream is o/er !ut still it ill get a

chance to +ualify for the *&< A#C Cup through play off !eteen ?

!est losers from second round#

The final hurdle:

The third round of +ualifiers is to !e played !eteen 2ept *& to 2ept

*&8.If India can miraculously manage to go past the second round, hich

has ne/er happened !efore, a third place finish ill !e enough to eep the

hope of +ualifying ali/e /ia a fourth round play offs and then an

intercontinental play off. 5oe/er this ill depend on hether ? or @ $C

!erths are reser/ed for the A#C.

2ource

httpHH.philstar.comHsportsH*&@H*&H&6H&?&?&Ha;als)e1pect)!usy)

year)c)+ualifier

httpHH.thedailystar.netH!angladesh)a/oid)play)off)fate)*88&

httpHHusapangfoot!all.pro!oards.comHthreadH*6H*&)fifa)orld)

+ualifying)asian

httpHH.u;daily.comHarticles)id)6*8.htm

httpHH.dhaaherald.comHsportsHfoot!allH!desh)gi/en)direct)entry)to)

*&)c)+ualifiersH

httpHH.orldcuptimeta!le.co.uH*&)orld)cup)russia.htm

http://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/01/13/1412412/azkals-expect-busy-year-wc-qualifierhttp://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/01/13/1412412/azkals-expect-busy-year-wc-qualifierhttp://www.thedailystar.net/bangladesh-avoid-play-off-fate-60771http://usapangfootball.proboards.com/thread/2603/2018-fifa-world-qualifying-asianhttp://usapangfootball.proboards.com/thread/2603/2018-fifa-world-qualifying-asianhttp://www.uzdaily.com/articles-id-30762.htmhttp://www.dhakaherald.com/sports/football/bdesh-given-direct-entry-to-2018-wc-qualifiers/http://www.dhakaherald.com/sports/football/bdesh-given-direct-entry-to-2018-wc-qualifiers/http://www.worldcuptimetable.co.uk/2018-world-cup-russia.htmhttp://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/01/13/1412412/azkals-expect-busy-year-wc-qualifierhttp://www.philstar.com/sports/2015/01/13/1412412/azkals-expect-busy-year-wc-qualifierhttp://www.thedailystar.net/bangladesh-avoid-play-off-fate-60771http://usapangfootball.proboards.com/thread/2603/2018-fifa-world-qualifying-asianhttp://usapangfootball.proboards.com/thread/2603/2018-fifa-world-qualifying-asianhttp://www.uzdaily.com/articles-id-30762.htmhttp://www.dhakaherald.com/sports/football/bdesh-given-direct-entry-to-2018-wc-qualifiers/http://www.dhakaherald.com/sports/football/bdesh-given-direct-entry-to-2018-wc-qualifiers/http://www.worldcuptimetable.co.uk/2018-world-cup-russia.htm

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httpHH.cricfootnep.comH6@H

httpHHneage!d.netH86?H!desh)gi/en)direct)entry)to)*&)c)

+ualifiersHsthash.aME:B8%.dp!s

httpHH.funtri/ia.comHasftHJuestion&6*&.html

httpHH.goal.comHen)indiaHnesH&6HindiaH*&@H*H&*H8??Hindia)to)

open)*&)orld)cup)+ualification)!id)on)&th)march

httpHH.fifa.comHorldcupHnesHyK*&@HmKHnesKasia)ready)for)first)

step)on)road)to)russia)@@&.html

Road to Russia begins nowPreparation for the rst leg in India starts immediately for Constantine, with a

training camp on 4 March in Guwahati before the crunch match a week later.

l !al"ador are ranked #$% and ha"e played in two &orld Cups nals tournaments '

()*% and ()$+. hey-"e lost all si games played, and ha"e scored /ust the one goal

0conceded ++ goals1. he table below at fa.com lists all the countries that-"e

playing in the &orld Cup nals, by 0today-s1 ranking, but does not show a country-s

ranking in the year they 2ualied.

India4s record

&

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