All we need to do is ....

[Doctor DOOM]

well, I must add "almost" to that actually.

anyway, ALL WE NEED TO DO IS TO WIN NKOREA.
and we're almost as good as through to the play-offs.

why do I say that?
well, apart from the more happy situation of getting 3 from NKorea and a highly probable 3 off UAE game ( and perhaps a possible 1 in the last one ), which with luck sees us through to the play offs , .... we may get a little lucky and perhaps squeek through with 5 or even 4 points even.
... as long as we get the 3 points off NKorea, that is.

seeing the last game is KSA-NKorea and ksa being in the running for the second ( or even first) spot , I am pretty sure they would try their best to beat NKorea and frankly, I think they can do it easier than imagined.


so if NKorea loses both its remaining games, we may get the third even with a point off our last 2 games against uae and SKorea with the total of 10 points, equaling NKorea , but ahead though head-to-head scores.


if NKorea draws ksa, we will have to beat uae ... which is highly possible too.

and in the happy scenario of us beating NKorea and getting buoyant enough off this tremendous surge that we beat uae and get something out of SKorea ... which may even lead to the SECOND DIRECT spot, if things fall for us ( draw bet ksa and NKorea ).



so anywhich way you look at it, this NKOREA game is the mother of all games for us. which enables us to advance with 5 or even 4 points.

[Martin-Reza]

Newsflash

This has been repeatedly discussed since the KSA loss.

6 points would guarantee playoffs and under some not so unlikely circumstances even direct qualification.

[Doctor DOOM]

umm.... newsflash back to you too:
almost 70% of the stuff we post ARE repetitions of some post from some place or the other.
so ?

[zzgloo]

The main reason Esteghlal lost its advantage over Zob-Ahan, was the fact that,they were finshed with thier easy games,and had tough games remaining, and the Zob-Ahan,had to go through tough games first and then easier ones.

same with our TM........., as TM has the easier remaining games than other teams :

The remaining games for

1- KSA = 1- @ S.Korea & 2- vs DPR
2- DPR = 1- vs IRI & 2- @ KSA
3- UAE = 1- vs S.Korea & 2- @ IRI
4- S.Korea = 1- @ UAE & 2- vs KSA & 3- vs IRI
5- IRI = 1- @ DPR & 2- vs UAE & 3- @ S.Korea

Only we and South Korea have 3 games,and extra chance for points.
Our extra game is vs UAE at home , as KSA & DPR are finished with UAE.
Our last game,vs S.Korea,our supposedly toughest game, happeneds,when they are secure of thier qualification,and less motivated.
KAS & DPR , both have only two games left,with only one at home, against tough teams...and at best hope to get 3 points out of thier remaining two games.while one of thier games is against each other ,so one has to lose.
Our toughest,supposedly game, is against DPR, which used to not be so much of concern.

Here is the interesting point :
DPR and KSA have two games remaing, and one of them is against each other, and both have 10 points.....
If, the loser of thier game, loses its secound game also, ( which are against IRAN or S.Korea ,and a good possibilty), then ......one of them remain with only 10 points,....and Iran, has 3 games to make 4 points, that is TM, can very easily , without haveing have to win two games,... qualify to at least go for the playoffs against perhaps Bahrain.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ bahram jan, if Iran gets only 4 points and reach 10, and if you say one of ksa or NKorea loses 2 games & remain at 10, we better hope it is not ksa.
coz in head-to-head ksa comes on top of us !

so the ONLY way we can survive with 4 points is if we BEAT Nkorea.
that's THE only way to survive at 10 pt's.

[Martin-Reza]

Head to head only matters in case of exact same goal difference.

[zzgloo]

^ bahram jan, if Iran gets only 4 points and reach 10, and if you say one of ksa or NKorea loses 2 games & remain at 10, we better hope it is not ksa.
coz in head-to-head ksa comes on top of us !

so the ONLY way we can survive with 4 points is if we BEAT Nkorea.
that's THE only way to survive at 10 pt's.

as you said,the win against DPR, will make things very easy for us !....
the day after our possible win against DPR, we may be in a better shape than both DPR and KSA.

[Doctor DOOM]

Head to head only matters in case of exact same goal difference.

hang on, you mean goal difference is above the head-to-head here ?
that doesnt sound right.
I thought it was the other way around.
then that may open other options for us.

coz , ksa's GD = 0 at the moment.
NK's = +2
Iran = 0

[Martin-Reza]

Exactly, it's points, then overall goal difference, then overall more goals scored, then head-to-head.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ I thought they had changed that format.

anyway, in this case, we may get a bit more lucky and in case we draw up against ksa, with better GD we may go ahead of them as well. ( like a ksa loss to SK and a draw between NK & ksa means if we win NK ( and eventually get 5 points ), we all end up at 11 points and with even a single goal win we get better GD than both ksa and NK .

more routes to advance, and some direct ones at that too.

great news