India have been drawn into a group with Myanmar, Nepal and Indonesia in the second round of the qualifiers for the women’s football tournament at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The matches will be played in Myanmar in April 2019, the same venue as that of the first round of qualifiers held in November 2018. At the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon, India had played Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh and finished second in the group with a win, draw and loss.
On that occasion, India had drawn 1-1 with Nepal and lost 1-2 to the hosts Myanmar. Maymol Rocky’s side had also faced Indonesia recently, notching up 5-2 and 1-0 wins over the south-east Asians.
At the ongoing Gold Cup in Bhubaneswar, India lost 1-2 to Nepal, bringing to a halt the five-game winning streak of Rocky’s team. India will face the higher-ranked Myanmar on Wednesday for a place in the final of the Gold Cup.
Only the winners of the second-round groups will qualify for third round to be held in early 2020. The third round will see the three group winners joined by Australia, China, North Korea, South Korea and Thailand.
Two groups of four will see the winners and runners-up from the groups face off against each other in a two-legged play-off to decide the two qualifying spots for the Asian Football Confederation. Japan, by virtue of being hosts, have already qualified.
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