Two men's football teams withdraw from ASIAD 19.

Syria and Afghanistan have withdrawn from the men's football tournament at the 19th Asian Games today, September 18th, one day before the tournament is scheduled to begin.

Syria stated that there was an error in registering their squad for the 19th Asian Games and requested to replace the player. The organizers refused the request because, according to regulations, teams are only allowed to select players from a preliminary list of 30 players registered with the organizers from March 2023. Therefore, Syria withdrew and apologized to host China. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has not yet announced the reason for their withdrawal.

In the previous tournament, Afghanistan did not participate. Syria reached the quarter-finals before losing 0-1 to Vietnam after 120 minutes. The goal was scored by Nguyen Van Toan.

Afghanistan U23 team. Photo: AFC

Due to the withdrawal of two teams, Group C now only consists of Uzbekistan and Hong Kong. These two teams will play two matches on September 22nd and 25th. Previously, Cambodia was the first team to withdraw before the draw took place.

Initially, with 23 teams, the organizers divided them into six groups of three. The teams played a round-robin format, with the top six teams, six second-place teams, and the four best third-place teams advancing to the Round of 16. Since the first round of matches is scheduled for tomorrow, September 19th, the organizers found it difficult to change the format, and Uzbekistan and Hong Kong automatically advanced.

Other teams also benefited from having one less competitor for the best third-place finish. In Group B, Vietnam was considered weaker than Saudi Arabia and Iran but stronger than Mongolia. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team needed to win against Mongolia, secure at least one point against the other two opponents, and minimize the number of goals conceded to have a good chance of advancing.

The Vietnamese team flew to Hangzhou, China on September 16th. They will have three days to acclimatize to the climate and playing field before their opening match against Mongolia at 3:00 PM tomorrow, September 19th, at the Linping Sports Center.

Hieu Luong

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