| Fadhil Yunus |
THE Asean Football Federation (AFF) Championship qualifiers have not begun but already Brunei Darussalam’s potential op-ponents have made known shall they progress in October.
Brunei Darussalam, among the lower ranked teams in Southeast Asian football, must overcome hosts Cambodia, Laos and Ti-mor Leste in a mini three-game tournament first tentatively from October 15 onwards to be considered in the tournament proper.
The AFF qualification winners in Cambodia will be automatically drawn in Group ‘B’ alongside co-hosts Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam after the AFF Suzuki Cup draw in Yangon.
The Wasps are expected to face serious challenge with regional rivals Laos having been a mainstay in the tournament since its inception in 1996.
The Laos men’s national team have not been able to progress pass the group stages but look firm favourites of taking the sole spot to join Asean’s elite.
Meanwhile, Cambodia have not qualified since 2008 when they completed their Jakarta-based group stage at the bottom of Group ‘A’.
Like Brunei, Timor Leste have only taken part in the AFF finals once back in 2004 which they failed to get out of the group stages.
Brunei Darussalam’s Hendra Azam (left) vies for the ball with a Timor Leste player during an AFF qualify-ing tie in Vientiane, Laos in 2014. – AFF
Brunei did not take part in the 2010 AFF qualifiers after serving a FIFA ban but have since been involved in the last two qualifiers.
The Wasps came close in qualifying in the 2012 tournament following a 3-2 win over Cambodia in Myanmar but a 3-1 loss to Laos left them relying on other results.
The Laotians snatched the point they required against already-qualified Myanmar to progress to the finals while Brunei’s last-day victory over Timor Leste were rendered irrelevant.
Meanwhile, Singapore under the stewardship of new coach V Sundramoorthy who took over from Bernd Stange have been drawn in a group of death alongside three-time winners Thailand, dark horses Philippines and Indonesia whose FIFA suspension were recently lifted.
2010 winners Malaysia have been handed a much favourable draw but Ong Kim Swee’s charges would have to cope without the quartet of inspirational midfielder Safiq Rahim, Aidil Zafuan, S Kunalan and Amirul Hadi Zainal after announcing their retire-ments from international football.
Thailand won the last edition following a 4-3 aggregate win over Malaysia in the 2014 final.
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