Tag: Lebanon

Omid team defeats Lebanon in AFC U23 qualifiers.

Dushanbe: Iran and group host Tajikistan set up a winner-takes-all Group B finale in AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 qualifying after both sides secured wins on Thursday.
the-afc.com
Iran earned a 2-0 win over Lebanon in the early match at Dushanbe’s Central Republican Stadium, before Tajikistan piled on the goals to beat Nepal 6-0 in the later game.
Lebanon 0-2 IR Iran

Keen to build on their strong finish In Monday’s 4-0 win over Nepal. Iran took just five minutes to go ahead through Mehdi Lamouchi, who latched onto skipper Yasin Salmani’s pass before beating Lebanese goalkeeper Antoine Al Douaihy from close range.

Iran suffered a blow when Mohammad Khodabandehlo was sent off after being shown a second yellow card in the 36th minute, but Lebanon failed to capitalize on their numerical advantage.

Mahdavikia’s side missed the chance to extend their lead when Saman Fallahvarnami’s Panenka-style penalty kick was kept out by the woodwork in the 90th minute, but the second goal did arrive in the fourth minute of injury time, with Milad Kor rising high to head home the sealer.

Team Melli Omid now faces what looms as a crucial clash with Tajikistan, while Lebanon will be playing for pride in their final outing against Nepal.

Cracks in the dressing room!!

While Team Melli is comfortably sitting at the top of the table in FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers with a two-point cushion against the closest rival South Korea and 5 points margin against 3rd rank Team, Lebanon, signs of discord and possible conflict are appearing in the squad.

There are always distractors or saboteurs lurking around in Iranian football circles to create controversy with the aim to dictate their agenda by someone stirring up troubles and following the great tradition of creating ” Hashiya”. This time it seems that Skocic is the target while Taremi and Ghoddos are part of the whole episode.

The core of the matter is that Dragan Skocic expressed his opinion about the Iranian footballer’s quality to which Mehdi Taremi took an exception. What Skocic said was nothing far from the truth, as we have witnessed these attributes for decades. Skocic said what accounts to that Iranian players lack technical abilities but physically are the best and capable.
Taremi did not like that and he tweeted against his national team coach perhaps dragging other players into it creating a toxic atmosphere in the dressing room of Team Melli.

Ghoddis’s case is about not being given playing time in the last two matches and his possible absence from the squad for the next match against Lebanon and Syria.

We can all take sides in an argument as people are free to express their opinions however before such decision making one has to look at facts and circumstances when parting judgment.
Taremi is a clear-cut case. He is being silly and as usual, lacks discipline and professionalism, regardless of how many goals he scores. He has undoubted abilities in scoring, his physique is of a great classical forward,  and no one can deny that, however, he is far from a technically accomplished player, yet he is still of great value for Team Melli.

Ghoddos case is more complicated  He is the only Iranian player who plays in the English Premier League and that is no mean feat. He is creative with vision and quality. Ghoddos is the very player that Skocic complains that Iranian teams lack. Yet this skillful creative midfielder that can make an impact on a game is warming the bench!
Whatever the reasons Skocic has for benching Ghoddos, it conflicts with his statement about lack of skill in Iranian footballers. The player has also the right to say that if you don’t want me and I do not get playing time, I might as well stay in London and practice with my club to get better opportunities with Brentford. It is only fair.

Our verdict is with Ghoddos on this despite not knowing the exact details of the reason Goddos left the Azadi without even informing his coach.

One thing that Skocic needs to realize is that needs to keep his words to the absolute minimum. He definitely knows that there are many packs of wolves after him and his job. Despite his immaculate record with Team Melli so far, his name is not Carlos Queiroz so he is not the real charismatic coach that some want. It’s a ridiculous thought, but its is all real with many.

Iranian players sulk if they are criticized and seem to be least comfortable with criticism. They accept and expect nothing short of praise as soon as they turn up. That is a reality that Skocic needs to skillfully deal with. In a football league where coaches blame the earth and the sky and anything in between for their team losses, the management/organization of football is close to comical, a partisan media & fans and lack of strong leadership,  under these circumstances, the Croatian head coach needs to be wise when selecting his word, and wiser in dealing with the players. unfortunately, he can little to change their mentality in a few days where he meets his player.

The improvement of players’ mentality, technical abilities, professionalism, self-discipline, and respect for peers starts at the grassroots level in any country. Iran is no exception. There were the problems lies

So, if Skocic needs to act wisely if he wants to prevail and continue with Team Melli.

Pre-match Preview Iran vs. Korea Rep. Lessons to be learned.

With Team Melli sitting comfortably at the top, this particular match remains the most crucial of all the matches. A win by Iran will lead to practically unassailable command for Team Melli and 70% of the mission accomplished towards the qualification for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Of course, the results of other matches are also significant, but not as important as the three points of this one.

Korea Rep will always be a tough and uncompromising opponent for Team Melli never mind the Table or the Ranking. The Koreans are 14 places behind Iran in the FIFA Ranking of October 2021 and 59 points behind. No one should be fooled by such numbers though because the Koreans will surely give it all for this particular win.

FIFA RANKING

RK

Team
Total Points
Previous Points

+/-
22
IR Iran
 Iran
1538.08
 1522.04 16.04
26
Japan
 Japan
1520.46
 1529.45 -8.99
32
Australia
 Australia
1493.99
 1477.21 16.78
36
Korea Republic
 Korea Republic
1479.41
 1474.96 4.45

During the Queiroz era, this match would have been the right candidate for combustions. There was no love lost between Queiroz and the Korean coach. Eventually, Queiroz was instrumental in his counterpart losing his job following defeat to Team Melli. That is all settled now as no such hostility exists between Bento and Skocic.

Politics of the game aside, when it comes to the power, tactics, and influential players, the teams are neck and neck. There is, however, a marked decline of standard and form by the Koreans, versus the ascendency and improvement of Team Melli in the last few years, but particularly under Dragan Skocic.  Despite having arguably the best Asian player in its rank, in the shape of Son Heung-min , the Tottenham winger has been less than effective in a team of many new faces. The Iraqi’s managed to close all doors away to the Koreans,  with the match ending goalless. Lebanon was next where the Koreans won by the tightest of margins. Then came the third match against Syria. The match was drawn 1-1 until a momentary lapse of concentration in the 89th minute of the match by the excellent Syrian defense allowed Son Heung-min to score the easiest of goals and his first for his country since 2019. Son Heung-min was unmarked and the goal came from a set piece.

Sadegh Moharrami during a practice session before the Korea Rep match

The winning goal scored by the Koreans is a lesson to be learned by Team Melli. number one is that players should never relax against them and number two,  Son Heung-min can not be left unmarked in or around the box. That goal was similar in circumstances to the one that was conceded by Team Melli against Iraq in Amman in Round 2 of the same qualifiers, a goal that ended in defeat for Team Melli.

Singling Son Heung-min as their main threat is also misleading as there are many such good players in the squad, however, this team has been surprisingly profligate, wasteful, and squandering chances by the dozen in the last three matches. The other area where the team has seen a decline is the accuracy of the passes and the end result. While passing the ball around might appear neat, the final passes were mostly disappointing. In fact, the Koreans despite their control and passing stats in all three matches, have created only a handful of real scoring chances in relation to their superiority.

KOREA REPUBLIC MEN’S RANKING

The official World Rankings of the international Men’s team

36

40

17

69
Recent Ranking Average Ranking Highest Ranking Lowest Ranking

Team Melli’s perfect record in round three is also somehow misleading. Out of the three matches, only against Iraq that the team shined quite well and the result reflected the good performance. The last one played against UAE was perhaps the most worrying, but we can excuse the team performance as they were playing in a humid and warm climate that normally seeps the energy of players not accustomed to such conditions. As such it results in exhaustion, dehydration, adverse physical conditions, and lack of concentration. A very good example of that was the penalty kick carried out by Sardar Azmoun right at the end of regulation time of the match. His body language did not augur well for a player who is about to take a penalty. He was visibly tired and his feeble kick was easily saved by Khausaif, the UAE keeper.  The miss did not change the outcome, but it could have been costly in other circumstances. Another lesson to be learned by the coaching staff.

We cannot conclude any Team Melli match preview without mentioning the proverbial discipline. While Korea was lucky to get the winning goal against Syria, Iran were lucky not to lose their key central defender with around another half an hour to play. Such fouls like the one committed by Shojaa Khalilzadeh against Ali Mabkhout, was amateurish by a player who was until that time, one of the best players in the match. What instigated this foul was more emotional than tactical. Granted that Mabkhout beat him and was heading towards the goal at the edge of the penalty box, a professional and composed defender would have left his goalkeeper deal with the forward, after all, Beiranvand is one of the best in Asia especially since Mabkhoiut was not in full control of the ball anyway, and he runs behind to cover Beirnavand. Khalilzadeh, took the weaker option by pully Mabkhout!

It was all immaterial at the end because there was a VAR decision that an offside occurred earlier on and Shojaa’s red card was rescinded. A lesson learned? perhaps.

Mental and Emotional control, composure, and cool balanced heads are in short supply at team Melli level. There is always a possibility of combustion and fans have grown accustomed to seeing silly fouls and acts from the players. We just hope that tomorrow in Azadi against Korea is not one of those black days.

 

 

 

Third round matches heating up

The UAE vs. IRAN

Team Melli is expected to be at full strength meeting their host UAE in tomorrow’s match at Zabeel Stadium in Dubai.

There are no reported absentees as the squad is now complete with the arrival of the European-based players. The UAE is also playing with full strength however, all is not too well in the camp.

In Thursday’s match, Ahmad Nourollahi who played in the UAE club, Shabab Al-Ahli is singled out as the player who has the most to prove. Unlike his clubmate Mehdi Ghaedi, the former Persepolis midfielder and a player who is in the high regard of Dragan Skocic and has been a key player in the success of h Team Melli, in his club he has been at the receiving ends of many criticisms and often substituted. Perhaps Nourollahi can see what his critics have been missing in tomorrow’s game.

Barring any last-minute injuries, Dragan Skočić is expected to stick to the tried and trusted with a similar lineup as the last two matches.

There have been some debates and unsatisfaction with the performance of half-backs, where Milad Mohammadi, Vahid Amiri, Saleh Hardani, Sadegh Moharrami, and Aref Agasi have been given minutes in the two games but not to the full satisfaction of the head coach. It is quite possible that the team Captain Ehsan Hajsafy will occupy the left-back position in Thursday’s match while Sadegh Moharrami might get the call for the right side.

Both Khalizadeh and Kananizadegan will be used again in the central defense with Azmoun and Taremi being once again paired in the forward line.

The goalkeeper position is still firmly in the hands of Alireza Beiranvand who was perhaps the most comfortable match in the last game versus Iraq. While the midfield formation could be Saman Ghoddos, Ahmad Nourollahi, Vahid Amiri, Saed Ezatollahi.

In the UAE camp. all is not so well with the fans demanding the dismissal of Dutch coach Van Marwijk. The fans along with many critics in UAE accuse the coach of negativity in managing the team and his cautions game plan. Critics have accused him of playing the wrong formation against Lebanon while failing to benefit from the bench in the two matches,

in addition to the team’s failure to adequately prepare for the qualifiers, which was put under scrutiny. Van Marwijk was satisfied with one week of external training, including two days, travel back and forth, and his insistence not to play friendly matches to prepare the players. The coach was satisfied with the first two rounds of the league, which he found adequate for the formation of the national squad.

During the two UAE matches, it seemed that the team lacked offensive effectiveness, especially with many easy opportunities wasted in front of the opponents’ goal. One of the TV punters in the UAE local station was former UAE international player Abdel Rahman Mohamed. Now an analyst, he expressed his anger against the team’s administration and head coach

” I am against Van Marwijk. He is not the man of touch competitions and he will not be able to take this team to the finals”

Korea Rep vs. Syria

The Syrians have a different problem in Seoul as the Syrian Football Association announced the absence of midfielders Muhammad Othman and Ayaz Othman from the team’s squad for its match against the South Korean counterpart, scheduled for Thursday. The Federation indicated in a statement that the absence of Muhammad Othman, a professional in Dutch Sparta Rotterdam, and Ayaz Othman who plays for the Greek club PAE Ionikos, were denied boarding the flight because neither had a valid visa in their European passports, despite the Korean embassy in Beirut and the UAE confirming that there is no need to issue a visa to them on their European passport.

Iraq vs. Lebanon

Meanwhile, Iraq’s national team  Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, called upon the Al-Shorta striker, Mohammed Daoud, to join the Iraqi squad that will meet its Lebanese counterpart on Thursday. Daoud is a late replacement for Iraq’s top striker Muhannad Ali, who suffered a severe injury during a match in the Greek League. The injury suffered by Muhannad Ali who plays for Aris Thessaloniki means he will miss both the matches against Lebanon in the third round and against UAE in the fourth round of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers.

Iraq football federation to protest FIFA’s decision.

The Iraqi Football Federation intends to sue the world football governing body FIFA for denying it hosting its matches at home citing security reasons.

FIFA’s decision to deprive the country of hosting the World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers. In a letter to the Iraqi Football Federation yesterday, FIFA stated that the country could not host its World Cup qualifiers due to its security situation, and therefore should nominate a third country to host the home matches. FIFA’s decision has been met with objections from the Iraqi Football Federation, to the extent that they intend to sue the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The Iraqi website also wrote that in the second step, the Iraqi Football Federation intends to ask FIFA and the AFC to hold a return match between Iran and Iraq at the Basra Stadium, which is scheduled to take place in Iraq. However, the Iraqi Sports website wrote that the federation has introduced Qatar as its host to FIFA for the first time, but will try to persuade FIFA to reverse this decision.

The chances of Iraq hosting its home games are slim as the CAS hearing normally takes a long time and chances are that the qualifiers will be over by the time a ruling is issued.

Iraq is in Group A of the World Cup Qatar 2022 third-round qualifiers along with Iran, Korea Rep., Syria, Lebanon, and UAE

Carlos Queiroz set to lead Iraq.

The former Team Melli head coach will aim to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with Iraq, a feat that has failed the Iraqis for 35 years.

Carlos Queiroz is the No. 1 candidate to lead the Iraq team, in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, after the team parted with coach Srecko Katanec.

Srecko Katanec has led the Iraqi team since 2018, helping the team qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup as well as advance to the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup. However, on July 15, he decided to leave the Iraqi team after 6 months without receiving a salary.

Very quickly, the Iraqi Football Federation targeted the famous coach Carlos Queiroz as a replacement. The Portuguese born in 1953 is currently unemployed, after terminating his job with the Colombian team in December 2020.

Carlos Queiroz is one of the most famous coaches in the world. He led the Portuguese team with Ronaldo to the 2010 World Cup. After that, he had 8 years with Team Melli, achieving a historic back-to-back qualification to the World Cup 2014 and 2018. Before that, he also twice. helped Portugal’s U20 team win the FIFA U20 World Cup in 1989 and 1991.

Carlos Queiroz is likely to lead the Iraqi team to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Photo: Twitter Iraqi Football Federation.
Carlos Queiroz is likely to lead the Iraqi team to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Photo: Twitter Iraqi Football Federation.

At the club level, Carlos Queiroz worked as an assistant to Alex Ferguson at Man United in his prime. In addition, he also had a season as a coach of Real Madrid, with the team winning the Spanish Super Cup.

According to local media, Carlos Queiroz is excited about the prospect of leading the Iraqi team. However, he also asked the Iraqi Football Federation to pay him 80% of his salary in advance, which is expected to be up to 1.75 million USD/year. It is expected that this week, the two sides will agree on the final terms.

In the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, Iraq is in Group A with Iran, South Korea, UAE, Syria, and Lebanon. They will open the World Cup qualifying campaign with a match against South Korea away on September 2. On September 9, they will meet Iran at home. Historically, Iraq has only attended the World Cup once, in 1986.

AFC U23 Champinshp draw

Tashkent: Asia’s rising stars discovered their opponents following the conclusion of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 Qualifiers Draw in Tashkent on Friday.

The 42 teams were drawn into 11 groups with 15 spots available at the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2022 with Uzbekistan having already confirmed their place as hosts, the first time the tournament will be staged in the Central Zone.

The draw divided the teams into two Regions – the West Region comprising 23 West, South, and Central Participating Teams as well as the East Region, which consists of 19 East and ASEAN Participating Teams.

The Qualifiers are scheduled for October 23 to 31, 2021 with the 11 group winners and four best second-placed teams sealing their qualification to the Finals.

  • Chiangrai United v Tampines Rovers FC

Iran, hosts Tajikistan, Lebanon and Nepal will contest Group B.

Iraq, the 2013 champions, headline Group C which will be hosted by Bahrain with Afghanistan and Maldives also contesting.

AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 - Qualifiers West Region

Saudi Arabia, runners-up in 2013 and 2020, will play in Group D with Bangladesh, hosts Kuwait and Uzbekistan, who will be participating in a friendly capacity with their results not included in the standings.

United Arab Emirates will host Group E with Oman, India, and Kyrgyz Republic challenging them for the sole automatic spot available to the Finals while hosts Jordan have Palestine and Turkmenistan for company in Group F.

AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 - Qualifiers East Region

Australia, who finished third in the 2020 AFC U23 Asian Cup, were drawn in Group G with China PR, hosts Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.

The Korea Republic, the winners of the 2020 edition, will face ASEAN opposition in hosts Singapore, Timor-Leste and Philippines in Group H while 2018 runners-up Vietnam are with Myanmar, Hong Kong and hosts Chinese Taipei in Group I.

Mongolia will host ASEAN sides Thailand, Malaysia and Laos in Group J while DPR Korea, 2016 champions Japan and Cambodia are in Group K, with the hosts to be named in due course.

*Uzbekistan’s results will not be counted in the Group D standings.

GROUP A: Iran rivals historical data review

With the draw of the third round concluded in Kuala Lumpur AFC headquarters, Iran has been grouped with Korea Rep., Syria, Iraq, UAE, and Lebanon.

While navigating this group of teams is not as easy as it looks on paper, the historic data supports Iran and draws a clear picture of superiority against its rival, the exception being South Korea which the teams are neck to neck on records.

Iran has played a total of 114 matches against these 5 teams with a percentage of wins set at 57%. Only 15% of the matches ended in a loss against these rivals.

The latest team that defeated Iran in any match was Iraq back in the 2nd round. UAE never won against Iran in official competition matches.

 

Korea Rep.
H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 7 5 2 0 10 – 03 7
A 11 3 6 2 08 – 08 0
N 13 5 1 7 15 – 22 -7
Total 31 13 9 9 33 – 33 0
Syria
H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 13 6 6 1 29 – 10 19
A 8 5 3 0 10 – 03 7
N 7 4 3 0 08 – 03 5
Total 28 15 12 1 47 – 16 31

Lebanon
H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 4 4 0 0 14 – 0 14
A 5 3 1 1 11 – 02 9
N 1 1 0 0 2 – 0 2
Total 10 8 1 1 27 – 02 25

Iraq
H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 12 9 1 2 19 – 08 11
A 3 2 1 0 04 – 01 3
N 14 6 5 3 17 – 12 5
Total 29 17 7 5 40 – 21 19

UAE
H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 5 4 1 0 4 – 0 4
A 7 5 1 1 13 – 04 9
N 4 3 1 0 7 – 0 7
Total 16 12 3 1 24 – 04 20

OVERALL RESULTS
P W D L GF GA
114 65 32 17 171 76
57% 28% 15%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last meetings

Iraq 15-06-21 WC Qualifier N 1 – 0 16 Days
Syria 03-03-21 Friendly H 3 – 0 3 Months
Korea Rep 11-06-19 Friendly A 1 -1 2 years
UAE 19-01-15 Asian Cup H 1 – 0 6 years
Lebanon 19-11-13 Asian Cup Qlfy H 4 – 1 7 Years

 

Loss records

In the same FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Team Melli has suffered its last loss. Surprisingly Lebanon was the latest team that has defeated Team Melli again in the World Cup qualifiers but that was 8 years ago. The third-ranked defeat came from Kore Rep in the quarter-finals of the AFC Asian Cup 2011 in Qatar and that was 11 years ago.

The record of the last defeat goes to Syria which managed its only win against Iran in the Qualifiers some 48 years ago.

 

TEAM MATCH DATE YEARS Result Competition
IRAQ 14-11-2019 1.5 1 – 2 World Cup QLFY
LEBANON 11-09-2012 8 0 – 1 World Cup QLFY
KOREA REP 22-01-2011 10 0 – 1 ASIAN CUP
UAE 02-09-1997 23 1 – 3 FRIENDLY
SYRIA 15-05-1973 48 0 – 1 World Cup QLFY

 

 

An exciting draw for Iran.

If there was an easier draw in the final round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, then Iran has possibly the better group of the two.

Not only the opponents are well known for Team Melli but the logistics will be that much easier with 4 neighbors per se with the only long-distance travel being Korea. The most familiar team is Iraq which Iran recently defeated in the second round to qualify for the final round.

Korea will remain the most serious of the group contenders. The star-studded team of the Koreans have qualified for the World Cup 10 times and is well-positioned to make it number 11 along with Iran.

the four Arab countries in the group stand an equal chance of qualifying. Although Syria was the best performer of the four teams in the second round, it will be difficult for the Syrians to repeat this performance in the third round, especially since they lost their head coach the Tunisian Nabil Maaloul.

Iraq will always remain a strong team despite the difficult circumstances surrounding the team. In the draw ceremonies, the Slovenian coach of Iraq national Team Katanec was absent while doing the after-draw interviews. That does not augur well for the coach who is on shaky ground. It is not clear if he will be continuing with the team.

UAE was trailing Vietnam in the group until the last day. However, a great awakening in the last match, pushed UAE to a win against Vietnam to head the group and qualify directly to round three. UAE is a well know opposition to Iran but has never defeated Team Melli. UAE also remains a favorite away venue to Iran.

Lebanon was perhaps the luckiest team of the group but by no mean the punching bag. Their performance in the group with Korea was quite admirable. Although their chance of qualifying is minimal, they do represent a challenge for the others especially the lower ranked group teams. The economic situation of Lebanon would be the biggest off-field challange to their preparations for the third round.

FIFA Ranking for AFC third Round World Cup 2022 qualifiers

FIFA.com

Kuala Lumpur: 12 teams in Asia are still in contention to qualify for the World Cup Round 3 draw to take place on 1 July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The path to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ has reached a pivotal stage in Asia. Twelve teams have qualified for the third round after a nearly two-year long journey in Round 2.

Group winners Syria (A), Australia (B), IR Iran (C), Saudi Arabia (D), Japan (F), United Arab Emirates (G) and Korea Republic (H) will be joined by the five best runners-up: China PR (A), Oman (E), Iraq (C), Vietnam (G) and Lebanon (H).

Qatar finished as winners of Group E, but as hosts have already qualified for the World Cup and will not participate in the next round of qualifying.

What’s next?

The 12 teams will be split into two groups of six in a home-and-away, round-robin format. The winners and runners-up in each group (four total) will qualify directly for the World Cup Finals, while the third-placed teams will advance to a playoff, where they will play to determine which team will advance to the intercontinental playoff.

When’s the draw?

The third round draw will be conducted on 1 July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Games in the third round are scheduled to be played on the following match days: 2 September 2021, 7 September 2021, 7 October 2021, 12 October 2021, 11 November 2021, 16 November 2021, 27 January 2022, 1 February 2022, 24 March 2022 and 29 March 2022

How will the seedings for the draw work?

FIFA has released a special FIFA Ranking specifically for Asia today, 18 June 2021, which will be used to determine the seeding for the draw. Qatar, while ranked fifth in this ranking and winners of Group E in Round 2, will not be participating in the third round.

How will the draw work?

Teams will be divided into six pots according to the FIFA Ranking published on 18 June 2021: Pot 1: Teams ranked 1-2, Pot 2: 3-4, Pot 3: 5-6, Pot 4: 7-8, Pot 5: 9-10, Pot 6: 11-12.

The pot number corresponds to the position the team will be placed in the group. The first and second ball drawn from each pot will be placed in Groups A and B respectively.

The draw will begin with Pot 6, where the first ball drawn will be placed in position A6. The next ball drawn will be placed in position B6, until the sequence is completed all the way through to Pot 1.

POT 1 POT 2 POT 3 POT 4 POT 5 POT 6