Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Reaction to Tuesday's draw for the second round of 2018 FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint qualifiers.
Click here to view the results of the draw
ANGE POSTECOGLOU (Australia)
Drawn in Group B along with Jordan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh
“It’s exciting, from our point of view it signals the start of the road to Russia and we are obviously very keen on qualifying well. Every game is important and there will be some good challenges in this first phase.
“We pride ourselves on being very well prepared and planning well and we will need to with this group. Since I took over we have really worked just as hard off the field as we have on it to ensure that we are a well prepared side and we will leave no stone unturned to make sure that each game is treated with the same amount of attention to detail every other game is.
“We want to qualify as a strong team and go to the World Cup as one that can make an impact.”
Opening Fixture = Kyrgyzstan v Australia June 16, 2015
RADOJKO AVRAMOVIC (Myanmar)
Drawn in Group G along with Korea Republic, Kuwait, Lebanon and Laos
“It is a very difficult draw, but you can never expect that there will be any easy teams.
“In a way it is an unlucky draw because Korea Republic and Kuwait are good teams, plus Lebanon in the past few years have been competing with the best teams in Asia. Laos are also improving.
“That first game (against Laos) is a question of motivation. It is important to win the game and we will see what happens after that.”
Opening Fixture = Laos v Myanmar June 11, 2015
DOLLAH SALLEH (Malaysia)
Drawn in Group A along with UAE, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Timor-Leste
“It’s a tough group but I’m happy with the draw. Malaysia avoided big guns such as Australia, Korea Republic and Japan.”
“We will have home advantage for the first two matches and we have to take advantage of that.”
“I hope players from Johor Darul Ta’zim and Pahang FA are available because 12 of the players on the national team are from these two clubs.”
Opening Fixture = Malaysia v Timor-Leste June 11, 2015
FAISAL AL BADEN (Saudi Arabia)
Drawn in Group A along with the UAE, Palestine, Timor-Leste and Malaysia
“It is an interesting draw and particularly, we need to study more about the Malaysians (who lost 6-0 to Oman in a friendly last month). We didn’t see the Malaysians’ game but maybe they had fielded their second team.
"We have more than one month to prepare the team and we will see. Unfortunately we don’t have much time because we have only five days (to train the team) before the first game.”
Opening Fixture = Palestine v Saudi Arabia June 11, 2015
ALAIN PERRIN (China)
Drawn in Group C along with Qatar, Maldives, Bhutan and Hong Kong
“I believe 2018 is China’s year because we have received good signals to develop football in China. I’ve worked with the players and given lots of chance to the players to improve their level. We also made a good performance at the 2015 Asian Cup and we’re seventh in the FIFA Asian ranking.
“Our target is to go to the 2018 World Cup and continue to improve our level. The first round will be the first hurdle that we have to prepare for, and especially against Qatar, it will be tough. The important thing is to tour all over the world to prepare for the World Cup qualification.”
Opening Fixture = Bhutan v China June 16, 2015
MAHDI ALI (United Arab Emirates)
Drawn in Group A along with Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Timor-Leste and Malaysia
“I think the draw is fair for all teams because it was based on the (FIFA) rankings. Our group, I think, is among the strongest groups. I think we have played some of the teams before and we’ll go back two years to see how they played.
We’ve worked very hard in the past two years and we will have to work even harder to prepare for the qualifying games. And I know all other teams will learn more about the UAE. So we have to be ready for all these games.”
Opening Fixture = Timor-Leste v United Arab Emirates June 16, 2015