KARACHI: Pakistan face a tall order in their bid to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in their history after being drawn with Syria, Myan­mar and Afghanistan in Group ‘E’ of the third round of qualifying for the 2027 tournament in Saudi Arabia.

Eighteen teams have already booked their spots following the second round of qualifying, which combined with the preliminaries for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with six berths — group winners of each of the groups — up for grabs in the third qualifying round.

The draw was conducted in Kuala Lumpur on Monday with Pakistan and Chinese Taipei the only two teams who failed to gain a point in the second qualifying round.

Pakistan open their campaign away on March 25 next year against Syria, who failed to advance from the second round of qualifying for the first time in three editions.

Syria, who were in the first pot as the top six seeded teams for the draw, came agonisingly close to securing a spot in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and its football federation on Monday changed the colour of their national team’s kit and logo from red to green after the regime of president Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

Pakistan have advanced this far in qualifying for the Asian Cup for the first time following their historic victory against Cambodia in the first round before they finished winless and pointless in the second round to parachute into the race for 2027 as one of the bottom two teams.

Syria finished third in their group behind Japan and North Korea and ahead of bottom side Myanmar in their second-round group. They thrashed Myanmar 7-0 in their home fixture whilst drawing 1-1 away. That was the only point Myanmar secured in the second round.

Myanmar travel to Pakistan’s in the second game of their qualifying campaign on June 10. Pakistan have played Myanmar, formerly Bur­ma, several times in the 1960s and 1970s — ending up on the losing side (1-5) in the teams’ last fixture at the 1974 Asian Games.

Pakistan, who saw head-coach Stephen Constantine depart at the end of his contract last month, face Afghanistan in a double header in October next year — matches taking place on the 9th and 14th with the first at home.

Pakistan won 2-1 against the Afghans in Lahore in 2015 — the last time the two teams met on the football pitch. Pakistan’s penultimate fixture is at home to

Syria on Nov 18 before they end their campaign away in Myanmar on March 31, 2026.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2024