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

[Babak_Shirazi]

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.

Lets hope we only play in Mexico and are far away from that bullshit. I will only travel to Mexico, f*ck canada and the states

[Ghermez Agha]

I would be worried if it was 32 team format

yup same here….we would have been in huge trouble if it was. We are lucky….

[perspolis#1]

Lets hope we only play in Mexico and are far away from that bullshit. I will only travel to Mexico, f*ck canada and the states

It won't make a difference anyway. The California Iranians will go en masse. It's a real possibility that our games get on the verge of a dire political situation like the 1998 Iran USA game.

You also add on that the weakness of the toman compared to the dollar/Canadian dollar, peso will mean less people from Iran will go.

[peiman92]

With current FIFA-rankings our pathway to WC2026 could look like this:

First round: Bye for Iran

Second round: 9 groups of 4 teams, 2 teams advance to 3rd round.
Most difficult draw:
Iran
Uzbekistan
Thailand
Indonesia

3rd round: 3 groups of 6 teams, 2 teams in each group qualify directly for WC.
Most difficult draw:
Iran
Japan
Iraq
Oman
Bahrain
Syria

4th round: 2 groups of 3 teams (which finished 3rd or 4th in previous round), 1st in each group qualify for WC
Most difficult draw:
Iran
Oman
Uzbekistan

5th round: This pathway could be difficult and includes Intercontinental playoffs…

All in all even with the most difficult draw in round 2-4 even i will qualify this team.

[milad_b]

1.) So from my understanding 18 teams qualify from 2nd Round to third round.
2.) Then 6 teams directly qualify to world cup in third round - My guess: Iran , Japan, SK , AUS , Saudi , (China/UAE/Iraq).
3.) Then 6 Teams qualify to 4rth round. Only 2 Teams qualify to world cup.

5.) Then 2 teams qualify to sixth round, and the winner will play in the Inter-confederation play-off........

If we can't make it in the top 6 then, I rather not qualify to world cup and bring shame to IFF.

[MucizeLions1992]

1.) So from my understanding 18 teams qualify from 2nd Round to third round.
2.) Then 6 teams directly qualify to world cup in third round - My guess: Iran , Japan, SK , AUS , Saudi , (China/UAE/Iraq).
3.) Then 6 Teams qualify to 4rth round. Only 2 Teams qualify to world cup.

5.) Then 2 teams qualify to sixth round, and the winner will play in the Inter-confederation play-off........

If we can't make it in the top 6 then, I rather not qualify to world cup and bring shame to IFF.

Yes, you got the format right.

China's football is dead. They won't come anywhere near qualifying. They will not make it to round 4 let alone qualify by round 3.

[perspolis#1]

We need to constantly fight the innate Iranian need for comfort in these games. A 1-0 against an Arab team is not an automatic win until the final whistle. We need to hunt them until a 2/3 goal lead if we play offensively so that for these Pot 2 and 3 teams consisting of Persian gulf teams be joone ham bendazim.

Japan and South Korea have far more quality over the pitch than we do. So we need to play organized, compact, DISCIPLINED, AND ****house our way to results if needed.

We are not winning a back and forth open affair vs Japan at this time.

[milad_b]

Yes, you got the format right.

China's football is dead. They won't come anywhere near qualifying. They will not make it to round 4 let alone qualify by round 3.

lots of investment in chinese football infrastructure. They also have a new coach and fifa wants big nations in world cup. I'll be damn surprised if china dont make it.

[MucizeLions1992]

lots of investment in chinese football infrastructure. They also have a new coach and fifa wants big nations in world cup. I'll be damn surprised if china dont make it.

North Korea and espeially China's football were hit very hard by the pandemic. China couldn't play their home matches at ohme anymore in the final round of WCQ. A lot of investors have become bancrupt. The Chinese league no longer can afford those high profile foreigners. Chinese clubs get these days knockoed out in the AFC CL in the early stages. The national team has foregone many international breaks. In a nutshell China has fallen behind.

I expect this time Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, one (South) Eastern Asian side not named China (can be any of Vietnam, Thaland or even North Korea) and one of Qatar or the UAE to challenge in the latter stages of WCQ. I think China and one of Qatar or the UAE will be the casualties of this cycle and will even miss out on round 4 action. We should put our focus on the teams I mentioned. You can trust me to 90% no teams outside of the circle I mentioned will challenge.