|Poll| Should we be worried for the 2026 World Cup qualifying cycle?

[MucizeLions1992]

I don't know hammihans but I have bad vibes for TM going into the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifying. Remember WCQ starts for TM already in November.

Last night I had a nightmare. We lost a very important match to Uzbekistan and missed out on the 2026 World Cup.

Are you guys worried for WCQ? I definately am.

Yes, AFC got 8.5 spots. But you remember how we made a meal of qualifying for the final round the last time out?

The federation gave Ghalenoei a contract until the 2023 Asian Cup. Even though I'm not sold on Ghalenoei I hope he takes us at least to a convincing semi-final finish and he can stay at the helm for the full cycle.
I think Ghalenoei is good enough to deliver us results against Asian 2nd tier sides. However I doubt he can lead us to victories over the other AFC powerhouses.

My concern is should he fail at the Asian Cup we'll be again searching for a new manager. If Ghalenoei fails the domestic option will be closed. The FA will look for foreign options. If we bring a foreign manager who barely has credentials + doesn’t know Iranian football that could backfire massively. We saw where we were with Wilmots. Given that our federation is incompetent, we don't have ressources to go after truly good managers we could end up with a Wilmots 2.0.

We were the oldest squad at the 2022 World Cup and almost all of our best players are on the wrong side of the 30s.

OK. We've got Sayadmanesh and Hazbavi coming up. But who else do we got?

The 2022 cycle was a bad cycle for Asia's second tier sides. The gap to the powerhouses was very big. But I wouldn't necessarily believe that it will stay like that. I think the likes of Qatar with CQ, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Bahrain and Oman will be
pretty competitive. Then we've got the heavyhitters of Japan, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia who will all maintain a certain level.

I think there is still a distance between fans and TM. With the situation in Iran being far from fixed we could suffer from a lack of support and players might not be able to put their full heart for the shirt anymore.

I'm worried. Even though odds favour us to qualify even comfortably I don't think it will be easy whatsoever. In fact I'd put the odds for us to not qualify for the 2026 World Cup at around 15-20% which is the by far the highest among the top five.

I opened a poll. Please vote and express your feelings for the upcoming World Cup qualifying cycle. I want to know how others see the situation.

[PSGman#19]

The world and Asia is advancing while with GN we go back to several years ago and regressed big time. I was much confident with Skocic and GN even with all their drama. Neku was a less bad choice. And Sanchez was ideal..

About young prospects we have also Salmani, Milad kor and khodabandelou, some also in Poland and binationals in Sweden and Germany. but I don't know why we care GN (and IPL) favor local crappy and useless dinausaurs

[Kojiro Hyuga]

Unfortunately, I feel like we are headed for another dark age of Iranian football. Asia cup will be a disaster most likely, and while I do think TM will qualify for the Word Cup, I think it will be very close and ugly, and without much hope of advancing far in the tournament itself. (Compared to the last 2 WC where we had genuine reason to believe it's doable)
But who knows, maybe things will change. If we are lucky I.R, won't be around by then and things will look better both for TM and all of Iran.

[KC McElroy]

With 8 teams making it we should be ok even without a coach.

[Keshwardoost]

I don't know hammihans but I have bad vibes for TM going into the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifying. Remember WCQ starts for TM already in November.

Last night I had a nightmare. We lost a very important match to Uzbekistan and missed out on the 2026 World Cup.

Are you guys worried for WCQ? I definately am.

Yes, AFC got 8.5 spots. But you remember how we made a meal of qualifying for the final round the last time out?

The federation gave Ghalenoei a contract until the 2023 Asian Cup. Even though I'm not sold on Ghalenoei I hope he takes us at least to a convincing semi-final finish and he can stay at the helm for the full cycle.
I think Ghalenoei is good enough to deliver us results against Asian 2nd tier sides. However I doubt he can lead us to victories over the other AFC powerhouses.

My concern is should he fail at the Asian Cup we'll be again searching for a new manager. If Ghalenoei fails the domestic option will be closed. The FA will look for foreign options. If we bring a foreign manager who barely has credentials + doesn’t know Iranian football that could backfire massively. We saw where we were with Wilmots. Given that our federation is incompetent, we don't have ressources to go after truly good managers we could end up with a Wilmots 2.0.

We were the oldest squad at the 2022 World Cup and almost all of our best players are on the wrong side of the 30s.

OK. We've got Sayadmanesh and Hazbavi coming up. But who else do we got?

The 2022 cycle was a bad cycle for Asia's second tier sides. The gap to the powerhouses was very big. But I wouldn't necessarily believe that it will stay like that. I think the likes of Qatar with CQ, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Bahrain and Oman will be
pretty competitive. Then we've got the heavyhitters of Japan, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia who will all maintain a certain level.

I think there is still a distance between fans and TM. With the situation in Iran being far from fixed we could suffer from a lack of support and players might not be able to put their full heart for the shirt anymore.

I'm worried. Even though odds favour us to qualify even comfortably I don't think it will be easy whatsoever. In fact I'd put the odds for us to not qualify for the 2026 World Cup at around 15-20% which is the by far the highest among the top five.

I opened a poll. Please vote and express your feelings for the upcoming World Cup qualifying cycle. I want to know how others see the situation.

Less worried compared to early 2000s but more worried compared to the CQ years.

We atleast have a coach in good time before WCQ starts, but we also probably will have another IFF election before 2026 WC so everything can still happen.. 😶

[Keshwardoost]

Also, dont worry (if your not Kaanani or Bademjani) .

Its predicted that CQ will return in Maj 2026. 😁

[Nokhodi]

All it takes is 2 crappy games to jeopardize qualification, even with the increased spots. Qualification is never fun.

[MucizeLions1992]

Unfortunately, I feel like we are headed for another dark age of Iranian football. Asia cup will be a disaster most likely, and while I do think TM will qualify for the Word Cup, I think it will be very close and ugly, and without much hope of advancing far in the tournament itself. (Compared to the last 2 WC where we had genuine reason to believe it's doable)
But who knows, maybe things will change. If we are lucky I.R, won't be around by then and things will look better both for TM and all of Iran.

I agree. I think missing out on 2026 altogether would be a bridge too far but not looking with much hope into the future.

If I had to hedge my money on which Asian nations will make it to the 2026 World Cup based on what I've seen I would say it's Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and last but not least Uzbekistan as an intercontinental playoff winner.

[Hosseini]

It will not be an easy feat, that's for sure.

[milad_b]

Are you kidding me? Even in our worst form we've been in top 5..... 8.5 Teams are going to WC from asia so Going to world is not a big thing anymore, advancing from the group is what we should be worried about.

Iran, Japan , SK , AU, Saudi , Iraq , UAE/Oman , Qatar. .....UAE, Iraq and Qatar are in worst position right now. CQ knows he is screwed with this team thats why he is looking to buy talent from us .

[MucizeLions1992]

Are you kidding me? Even in our worst form we've been in top 5..... 8.5 Teams are going to WC from asia so Going to world is not a big thing anymore, advancing from the group is what we should be worried about.

Iran, Japan , SK , AU, Saudi , Iraq , UAE/Oman , Qatar. .....UAE, Iraq and Qatar are in worst position right now. CQ knows he is screwed with this team thats why he is looking to buy talent from us .

We will go to the World Cup. But I could see us leaving things late and qualify by round 4 and not by round 3.

I'm 100% sure this campaign won't be as smooth as our 2022 qualifying campaign.

Qatar are screwed. That's why I put now Iraq in their place in my nine team list to represent the AFC.

Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Iraq are my AFC spots.

[peiman92]

Even i will be able to qualify this team for the WC.
That should calm your nerves.

[persiangodfather]

I would be worried if it was 32 team format

[milad_b]

We will go to the World Cup. But I could see us leaving things late and qualify by round 4 and not by round 3.

.

sorry but if we can't qualify in top 4 then i rather not see TM get qualified and end up getting humiliated infront of the world.

[perspolis#1]

If we can't be in the top 8 teams of Asia we don't deserve it anyway. Right now there are 24 teams in the Asian cup and at least 8-12 of them are dreadful sides who belong nowhere near a World cup. So if we can't be in the top half of the only teams in Asia worth a damn then its very sad.

For this cycle my bigger concern is actually what happens if/when we qualify. I'll say that the world cup in Qatar was a very tense world cup with a schism of our fanbase and our players on edge for political and personal reasons which may have affected their performances.

In the 2026 World cup the games will mostly be in US and Canada where our games will be politicized to the maximum extreme and unfortunately for pro government forces... the US and Canada won't do anything to restrict chants/flags/attendance etc. It will be much harder for them to ship their people into the US to make up the fanbase, so most of the fans will be diaspora crowd in US.

I'm worried about what IFF will do in response to this and they may withdraw or something along those lines to save face.