Lebanon Withdraws From The 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification

JAKARTA - Unsurprisingly good news came from one of the participants in Group H of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification, Lebanon. The country decided to withdraw.

Previously, it was known that Group H, Lebanon joined Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and the host Laos. Group H matches will take place starting Wednesday, October 23, 2024.

The strong reason Lebanon decided to withdraw from the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification was because of the war between its country and Israel which is still ongoing.

"The Lebanese U-17 national team has officially resigned from the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification because the ongoing war with Israel has prevented them from traveling abroad," wrote Malaysian Media, SNE Sports, quoted on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

Lebanese's decision to withdraw from the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification is considered to be detrimental to other contestants, including the U-17 Indonesian national team.

Although the Indonesian U-17 and Lebanese U-17 national teams were not in the same group in the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification, this has changed the best runner-up assessment mechanism in the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification.

Currently Group G is filled with four teams, while Group H is only three teams. Later, the results of the match with the bottom team of the group round will not be calculated so that there is equality between Group H and other groups.

Therefore, the U-17 Indonesian national team who are members of Group G together with the hosts Kuwait, Australia, and the North Mariana Islands must work harder.

The four countries will compete for tickets to qualify for the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup finals.

Meanwhile, the U-17 Indonesian national team will start the struggle by facing the host Kuwait on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at 20.30 WIB.

Two days later, on Friday, October 25, 2024, at 20.30 WIB, Garuda Muda will compete against the North Mariana Islands.

The U-17 Indonesian National Team's steps in the U-17 Asian Cup Qualification will be closed with the match against Australia on Sunday, October 27, 2024, at 20.30 WIB.