Road to the 2026 World Cup Thread ( Discussion, Analysis, Schedule etc)

[PSGman#19]

ofcourse no one can predict what happens in the future, but, Ali joon is almost 85 so you would figure something will change when he dies.

Janati and his friends are 97 or so. When he dies, it may have some chaos but it doesn't fundamentaly change the balance of power

[taremiscores]

Janati and his friends are 97 or so. When he dies, it may have some chaos but it doesn't fundamentaly change the balance of power

The Islamic Republic is run like a mafia. They have people in the background, but who knows? Not many of them are as refined as Ali the Yazid. When he dies, it will affect things. Like when Gotti jailed/died, it affected things. Charisma and leadership matter. The devil is one of the best at being a dictator.

If Iran is free and run properly, Iran will win ever Asian Cup going forward and will be the Round of 16 every World Cup, at least. That's how optimistic I am of our talent and people.

[DR Strangemoosh]

Korea's central defender who was Serie A's best defender of the season signed for Bayern Munich for almost the same amount as our entire squad's transfermarkt value .

Damesh garm, he went from a solid defender to one of the best defenders in the world.

Japan can field two squads of good players in Europe.

Barbaria's work in their national team isn't exactly going to flag behind what they have been doing elsewhere over the last 12-24 months.

But the biggest problem is the improvement in the tier 2 asian teams - we are going to see a better Jordan, Oman, uzbekistan .. than we have seen before.

Iran's fifa position has been Asia's number 1-2 over the last decade, courtesy of Carlos Queiroz's work to build something out of fumes. But it has been an illusion - whether you are a shaman or a peyman, we are sadly going to get the mother of all wake up calls soon...

[Nokhodi]

Korea's central defender who was Serie A's best defender of the season signed for Bayern Munich for almost the same amount as our entire squad's transfermarkt value .

Damesh garm, he went from a solid defender to one of the best defenders in the world.

Japan can field two squads of good players in Europe.

Barbaria's work in their national team isn't exactly going to flag behind what they have been doing elsewhere over the last 12-24 months.

But the biggest problem is the improvement in the tier 2 asian teams - we are going to see a better Jordan, Oman, uzbekistan .. than we have seen before.

Iran's fifa position has been Asia's number 1-2 over the last decade, courtesy of Carlos Queiroz's work to build something out of fumes. But it has been an illusion - whether you are a shaman or a peyman, we are sadly going to get the mother of all wake up calls soon...

Talent is still there. Always will be.
I don’t think we’re going to win anything major but even after the golden generation finished, and we thought we wouldn’t get any decent players again, all of a sudden guys like Taremi, Azmoun, JB, Beiranvand, PAG and co showed up.

yes cq bought them to the international team, but we also had coaches who would take chances on young players too in small clubs.

I am sure there are some hidden gems that we don’t know about yet and won’t really show be utilized properly until they’re 25.

this alone has kept our football running.

if it was about tactics and infrastructure, I’d say we’ve been losing that game for a lot longer than just the past few years.

[MucizeLions1992]

My 48 team prediction for the 2026 World Cup

UEFA - 16 Teams

Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovenia
Spain
Switzerland
Ukraine

CONMEBOL - 7 Teams

Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Uruguay
Venezuela

CAF - 10 Teams

Algeria
Angola
Burkina Faso
Egypt
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Morocco
Nigeria
Senegal
Tunesia

AFC - 8 Teams

Australia
Bahrain
Iran
Japan
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
UAE
Uzbekistan

CONCACAF - 6 Teams

Canada
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Mexico
Panama
USA

OFC - 1 Team

New Zealand

[perspolis#1]

https://www.plus.fifa.com/en/content...d-177644b813fc

Zambia-Congo starts at 11am EST. Fifa is showing all African world cup qualifying games free if you sign up with any email to Fifa +

Despite more african teams being allowed into the world cup the African qualifying process is absolutely brutal as always

There are 9 groups of 6 teams.

ONLY THE TOP team in each group qualifies directly. The 4 best 2nd place teams play each other in a playoff and THEN have to go to intercontinental playoff.

[Artaxerxes]

https://www.plus.fifa.com/en/content...d-177644b813fc

Zambia-Congo starts at 11am EST. Fifa is showing all African world cup qualifying games free if you sign up with any email to Fifa +

Despite more african teams being allowed into the world cup the African qualifying process is absolutely brutal as always

There are 9 groups of 6 teams.

ONLY THE TOP team in each group qualifies directly. The 4 best 2nd place teams play each other in a playoff and THEN have to go to intercontinental playoff.

Brutal indeed!

Wich continent will the african teams face in the intercontinental playoff?

[perspolis#1]

Brutal indeed!

Wich continent will the african teams face in the intercontinental playoff?

So the way it works now in the intercontinental playoff is there will be 6 playoff teams.

2 from Concacaf(N. America)
1 from CAF(Africa)
1 from AFC(Asia)
1 from OFC(Oceania)
1 from CONMEBOL(S. America)

From these 6 teams. The two highest ranked will get a bye to the final games.

The other 4 play one of each other in an elimination game.

The 2 winners of that will go to play the two teams that got a bye.

The two teams that win that game will qualify for the World cup.

https://youtu.be/ivuYmwhaPnY?feature=shared

[perspolis#1]

3 weeks until the next round of games.

AFC

March 21:

Group A
Afghanistan vs India
Qatar vs Kuwait

Group B
Myanmar vs Syria
Japan vs North Korea

Group C
South Korea vs Thailand
Singapore vs China

Group D
Chinese Taipei vs Kyrgyzstan
Oman vs Malaysia

Group E
Iran vs Turkmenistan
Hong Kong vs Uzbekistan

Group F
Indonesia vs Vietnam
Iraq vs Phillippines.

Group G
Pakistan vs Jordan
Saudi vs Tajikistan

Group H
Nepal vs Bahrain
UAE vs Yemen

Group I
Australia vs Lebanon
Palestine vs Bangladesh


The March 26 games will be the away fixtures of the same game.


Based on the Asian Cup, I look at some teams in a different light such as Palestine, Tajikistan, Syria, Malaysia, who have decent shots at getting through to the next round.

[oracle]

3 weeks until the next round of games.

AFC

March 21:

Group A
Afghanistan vs India
Qatar vs Kuwait

Group B
Myanmar vs Syria
Japan vs North Korea

Group C
South Korea vs Thailand
Singapore vs China

Group D
Chinese Taipei vs Kyrgyzstan
Oman vs Malaysia

Group E
Iran vs Turkmenistan
Hong Kong vs Uzbekistan

Group F
Indonesia vs Vietnam
Iraq vs Phillippines.

Group G
Pakistan vs Jordan
Saudi vs Tajikistan

Group H
Nepal vs Bahrain
UAE vs Yemen

Group I
Australia vs Lebanon
Palestine vs Bangladesh


The March 26 games will be the away fixtures of the same game.


Based on the Asian Cup, I look at some teams in a different light such as Palestine, Tajikistan, Syria, Malaysia, who have decent shots at getting through to the next round.

Qatar vs kuwait
Japan vs n.k
Ksa vs tajikestan
Are decent games.

[oracle]

Paramount +will do 3rd round qualifiers.
for now kanal 3 is only option to watch

[oracle]

With new ranking coming out
1.japan
2.iran
3.s.k
4.aust
5.qatar
6.ksa

Tm will land Australia qatar or ksa in 3rd round.

high chance to land is qatar follow by Australia, last ksa.

[perspolis#1]

With new ranking coming out
1.japan
2.iran
3.s.k
4.aust
5.qatar
6.ksa

Tm will land Australia qatar or ksa in 3rd round.

high chance to land is qatar follow by Australia, last ksa.

Thankfully it is top 2 of each group with automatic qualification. We just need to focus on beating Teams in pots 3-6 and we will go through.

pot 3 is likely Iraq, Uzbekistan, UAE. In essence we need to be more consistent than one of them to qualify for World cup

[PSGman#19]

Thankfully it is top 2 of each group with automatic qualification. We just need to focus on beating Teams in pots 3-6 and we will go through.

pot 3 is likely Iraq, Uzbekistan, UAE. In essence we need to be more consistent than one of them to qualify for World cup

Honestly AFC fk us again. They have 8 spots but choose a format where we can easily get fked and miss the qualifications.
Honestly the like of Iraq or Uzbekistan can easily finish above us. Today we can rely on our stars to do the job, but the day after things will be another story, specially if Uzbekistan get their golden generation

[oracle]

Honestly AFC fk us again. They have 8 spots but choose a format where we can easily get fked and miss the qualifications.
Honestly the like of Iraq or Uzbekistan can easily finish above us. Today we can rely on our stars to do the job, but the day after things will be another story, specially if Uzbekistan get their golden generation

All 3rd place and 4th place teams in r3 qualify to
asia playoffs ..