Men's Football FIFA World Cup 2018

[Henry_Leon 1,397]

No surpises in Concacaf, won all the home teams (expected ), with Mexico already qualified to the Hexagonal (round 5).

 

In South America the battle will be tough,  with only Bolivia and Venezuela without a chance (Peru a little bit ) .... expected too.

[MHSN 3,621]

1 hour ago, ledon said:

I think in this case the other group will be a group of death: Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Syria .

 

By the way I would pick the same group with the exception that I would prefer Syria over Thailand, just because of the weather in Thailand.

 

I think the only big difference is between China and UAE. for other pots I can say both teams are almost in the same level, we prefer Iraq and Uzbekistan for some other reasons (not because they are weaker than QAT or KSA) Japan is even stronger than Korea but we still want them

 

Iran never qualified to the World Cup twice in a row, I just hope they break the curse this time. the current team looks much better than 2014 WCQ.

[ledon 13]

5 minutes ago, MHSN said:

 

I think the only big difference is between China and UAE. for other pots I can say both teams are almost in the same level, we prefer Iraq and Uzbekistan for some other reasons (not because they are weaker than QAT or KSA) Japan is even stronger than Korea but we still want them

 

Iran never qualified to the World Cup twice in a row, I just hope they break the curse this time. the current team looks much better than 2014 WCQ.

Yes the big difference is between UAE and China.Generally I would say that I am not afraid of any asian team right now. We can beat all of them. Japan is the strongest team in asia right now and I would say Iran is second and Australia/Korea third. Saying that I am somehow more concerned about UAE than Japan or Korea, even though we almost won every time against UAE. I somehow feel it will be difficult this time. I remember we won against UAE in the asian cup, but we were lucky in that match. We usually play good against Japan or Korea (home and away), but have problems with Qatar, Saudi-Arabia at least playing on their home soil. Also of course they are famous for dirty tricks.

 

Anyway I think we have a very good team with talented young players this time and I am very optimistic that we will qualify. I think 2014 WCQ was on of the worst iranian teams I have ever saw. Ironically we qualified with this team ahead of Korea in the group. What would your favourite squad look like at the moment? I would go with something like that.

 

                                      Beiranvand

 

Rezaeian              Hosseini        Pouraliganji        Montazeri

 

                              Kamyabinia/Ebrahimi

 

Amiri                  Ezatolahi           Dejagah         Hajsafi

 

                                    Azmoun

 

[Pavlo 141]

as to China, with such a league, they can improve quite fast and sometimes have better mentality than UAE

[ledon 13]

41 minutes ago, Pavlo said:

as to China, with such a league, they can improve quite fast and sometimes have better mentality than UAE

maybe in future, but right now UAE is much much better. In my opinion China is in fact the weakest team of all remaining teams.

[MHSN 3,621]

So we got Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar, China and Syria . Lol we were in the same group with 3 of them last time ! And AGAIN Korea

[OlympicIRL 5,532]

My prediction for the Asian qualifiers:

Group A: Uzbekistan, Iran to qualify automatically; South Korea to play-offs

Group B: Japan, Australia to qualify automatically; Saudi Arabia to play-offs

[Henry_Leon 1,397]

In Group B and  are favourites and others will play for 3rd place.

In Group A   will try (and will find.... ) their 10th participation at WC and the battle will be for the other direct qualification and for 3rd place, with   favourite.

 

My support     

[Henry_Leon 1,397]

Kuwait’s matches against Laos and Korea Republic forfeited

 

FIFA can confirm the decisions of its Disciplinary Committee in relation to the unplayed 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualifying matches Kuwait-Laos and Korea Republic-Kuwait. 

The Disciplinary Committee has decided that both of the matches should be forfeited, in accordance with art. 31 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. Furthermore, the Kuwait Football Association has been ordered to pay a fine of CHF 15,000 for each of the unplayed matches after being found liable for the violation of art. 6 par. 5 of the Regulations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and art. 56 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. In both cases, the KFA was also issued with a warning and a reprimand.

The decisions, notified to the relevant parties, were reached after a thorough analysis of all relevant information pertaining to the cases, in particular the fact that the Kuwait Football Association has been suspended since 16 October 2015.

[ledon 13]

It`s funny. We have almost the same group like 4 years ago. Syria is replaced by Lebanon and China is added this time. So it is a little bit boring for me. I rather would have played against Japan than Korea, even though I think Korea is weaker. Anyway I think we got the easier group. Mainly because we got China instead of UAE and we can avoid to play in Saudi Arabia.  Group B will be much more intereresting. I am curious if UAE and Saudi Arabia can make a surprise in this group, even though I think Japan and Australia remain favorites. In Group A Iran and Korea are favorites, even though Qatar and Uzbekistan have also chances.

 

After all I think we must qualify for the World Cup and I am very optimistic this time. Saying that we have not much place for mistakes in this group and shouldn`t underestimate any opponent.