A surprise happened as the Chinese soccer team staged a defeat in their home turf only to come back and beat South Korea on the road. Meanwhile, Thailand beat Singapore at home. The result leaves the standings in a state of confusion, with China and Thailand tied on 10 points, making the road to qualification a crapshoot. Whether the Chinese soccer team can make it to the next round on goal difference or goals scored, or be eliminated due to these subtle gaps, all are full of uncertainties.
India's situation is the same as the national football team, also in the second gear, but in consecutive matches against the fourth gear of Afghanistan, only to collect a draw and a loss of embarrassing results, the prospects for qualification has become bleak.
Afghanistan finished at the bottom of the table with 0 points after losing to Kuwait and Qatar in the first two rounds. However, in the next back-to-back matchups, they miraculously picked up four points, especially a 2-1 away win that jumped them to third place in the group, level with India, in a dramatic reversal of fortune.
As per the schedule, Afghanistan will face Qatar and Kuwait in the next two rounds. As Kuwait and India are separated by just one point and the two teams have to play a direct match. By winning two consecutive matches, Afghanistan can accumulate 10 points in six rounds of the tournament and overtake Kuwait and India to finish second in the group. If Kuwait and India draw, Afghanistan's chances of advancing will increase dramatically even if they only get four points from their remaining two matches.
