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

[BacheLot]

I’m tired of playing SK too
SA or Aussies would be a welcome change & revenge match against the lucky bastard of Qatar in a meaningful match would be fine as well

[PSGman#19]

I’m tired of playing SK too
SA or Aussies would be a welcome change & revenge match against the lucky bastard of Qatar in a meaningful match would be fine as well

Ksa qatar and Australia all will be revenge

[Damavand]

Ksa qatar and Australia all will be revenge

Australia?? The only defeat we had against them goes back to Aug 1973 which we have avenged a couple of times already.

[Pluto2000]

This just brings to attention why AFC is incredibly stupid and trash. AFC giants spend their time battling smaller countries like Philippines and Afghanistan and only face each other once every ten years. Seriously Iran vs Japan/Australia/Saudi/SK needs to be happening at least once every 2 years or something.

They either need to drop the whole pot system or they need to split world cup qualifying for pot 1-3 teams from pots 3-6. Imo give
5 spots to pots 1-3 and the remaining 3+1 spots to pots 1-3. That way the worst teams of pot 3 are constantly switching with best teams of pot 4. You can run two Nations League style tournament that runs parallel to each other for the sets of pots.

In Europe you got England facing teams like Germany/France pretty much every single year. We're not gonna ever get better facing teams like India for 2 out of 4 years every qualifying cycle

[oracle]

This just brings to attention why AFC is incredibly stupid and trash. AFC giants spend their time battling smaller countries like Philippines and Afghanistan and only face each other once every ten years. Seriously Iran vs Japan/Australia/Saudi/SK needs to be happening at least once every 2 years or something.

They either need to drop the whole pot system or they need to split world cup qualifying for pot 1-3 teams from pots 3-6. Imo give
5 spots to pots 1-3 and the remaining 3+1 spots to pots 1-3. That way the worst teams of pot 3 are constantly switching with best teams of pot 4. You can run two Nations League style tournament that runs parallel to each other for the sets of pots.

In Europe you got England facing teams like Germany/France pretty much every single year. We're not gonna ever get better facing teams like India for 2 out of 4 years every qualifying cycle

Love to have nations league for asia.
they say travel distance is problem,
Well split the west and east have 2 best teams from each east and west play round robbin
Style final 4 all in one group in one location
and the winner get a world cup spot, and winner can still participate in wcq but their result dont count.

Iran and ksa qualify from west
Australia and japan qualify from east
All place in one group.

There is so many ways to do this and make money. Problem is asia don't care about money ,
they can get whatever they want from countries
Such as kuwait,ksa,qatar,uae.

[Keshwardoost]

This just brings to attention why AFC is incredibly stupid and trash. AFC giants spend their time battling smaller countries like Philippines and Afghanistan and only face each other once every ten years. Seriously Iran vs Japan/Australia/Saudi/SK needs to be happening at least once every 2 years or something.

They either need to drop the whole pot system or they need to split world cup qualifying for pot 1-3 teams from pots 3-6. Imo give
5 spots to pots 1-3 and the remaining 3+1 spots to pots 1-3. That way the worst teams of pot 3 are constantly switching with best teams of pot 4. You can run two Nations League style tournament that runs parallel to each other for the sets of pots.

In Europe you got England facing teams like Germany/France pretty much every single year. We're not gonna ever get better facing teams like India for 2 out of 4 years every qualifying cycle

Wow a own afc cup like NHL world cup would be so cool.minicup every 2 years and new Olympic team. Let u17 play

[perspolis#1]

Reposting likely scenarios for the qualifiers this round.

Group A
Qatar will win group. Kuwait has games vs India and Afghanistan left. India vs Qatar and Kuwait. Realistically India needs to beat Kuwait to advance.

Group B
Japan and Syria. Not certain if North Korea will even play the games.

Group C
South Korea to top the group. China currently 2nd and play Thailand in China in June. If China beats Thailand they go through. If they tie, China have a better goal difference by 3 going into the last game against South Korea, while Thailand plays Singapore so it will be risky for China. I'll assume they survive it.

Group D
Oman to go through. Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia play a crucial game in Kyrgyzstan in June. If Kyrgyzstan can beat Malaysia they will go through. If they tie. Malaysia plays Chinese taipei on the last day while Kyrgyzstan plays Oman. Kyrgyzstan has a better goal difference by a margin of 8.

Group E
Iran and Uzbekistan

Group F
Iraq and Indonesia

Group G
Saudi will qualify. Jordan and Tajikistan are playing each other in June. Tajikistan HAS TO avoid a loss. If they tie, Jordan will still be two points ahead but will have to play Saudi in the last game while Tajikistan will have a game vs Pakistan. If Tajikistan beat Jordan very likely they will qualify.


Group H
UAE and Bahrain.

Group I
Australia qualify. Lebanon has to beat Palestine and Bangladesh and hope Palestine loses to Australia. I would give the edge to Palestine.





************************************************

ALSO FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT AWARE IT IS POSSIBLE TO START SIGNING UP FOR NOTIFICATIONS REGARDING WORLD CUP TICKETS.

https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/...ister-interest

[oracle]

Reposting likely scenarios for the qualifiers this round.

Group A
Qatar will win group. Kuwait has games vs India and Afghanistan left. India vs Qatar and Kuwait. Realistically India needs to beat Kuwait to advance.

Group B
Japan and Syria. Not certain if North Korea will even play the games.

Group C
South Korea to top the group. China currently 2nd and play Thailand in China in June. If China beats Thailand they go through. If they tie, China have a better goal difference by 3 going into the last game against South Korea, while Thailand plays Singapore so it will be risky for China. I'll assume they survive it.

Group D
Oman to go through. Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia play a crucial game in Kyrgyzstan in June. If Kyrgyzstan can beat Malaysia they will go through. If they tie. Malaysia plays Chinese taipei on the last day while Kyrgyzstan plays Oman. Kyrgyzstan has a better goal difference by a margin of 8.

Group E
Iran and Uzbekistan

Group F
Iraq and Indonesia

Group G
Saudi will qualify. Jordan and Tajikistan are playing each other in June. Tajikistan HAS TO avoid a loss. If they tie, Jordan will still be two points ahead but will have to play Saudi in the last game while Tajikistan will have a game vs Pakistan. If Tajikistan beat Jordan very likely they will qualify.


Group H
UAE and Bahrain.

Group I
Australia qualify. Lebanon has to beat Palestine and Bangladesh and hope Palestine loses to Australia. I would give the edge to Palestine.





************************************************

ALSO FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT AWARE IT IS POSSIBLE TO START SIGNING UP FOR NOTIFICATIONS REGARDING WORLD CUP TICKETS.

https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/...ister-interest

It be nice to have afg and Tajikistan advance
and JORDAN DONT🤣🤣🤣

[perspolis#1]

Massive result for North Korea against Syria. All they need now is to beat Myanmar and hope Syria doesnt beat Japan.

It would be AMAZING for Syria to be eliminated. A giant headache for us gone despite all their new Arjantini Marjantini players



India tied Kuwait which unfortunately means India last game against Qatar while 1 pt ahead but with Kuwait playing Afghanistan at home.

Hard to imagine India beats Qatar to control their destiny.

[Super Shojaei]

Massive result for North Korea against Syria. All they need now is to beat Myanmar and hope Syria doesnt beat Japan.

It would be AMAZING for Syria to be eliminated. A giant headache for us gone despite all their new Arjantini Marjantini players

With Oman winning, a tie or a win for Kyrgyzstan means they will go through and Malaysia will be eliminated.

India tied Kuwait which unfortunately means India last game against Qatar while 1 pt ahead but with Kuwait playing Afghanistan at home.

Hard to imagine India beats Qatar to control their destiny.

didn’t one of those arjantini marjantini players transfer to foolad?

[Nokhodi]

Massive result for North Korea against Syria. All they need now is to beat Myanmar and hope Syria doesnt beat Japan.

It would be AMAZING for Syria to be eliminated. A giant headache for us gone despite all their new Arjantini Marjantini players

With Oman winning, a tie or a win for Kyrgyzstan means they will go through and Malaysia will be eliminated.

India tied Kuwait which unfortunately means India last game against Qatar while 1 pt ahead but with Kuwait playing Afghanistan at home.

Hard to imagine India beats Qatar to control their destiny.

Syria is only a problem if they score. Then they will bunker.
It's a Cuper team.

[Keshwardoost]

Syria is only a problem if they score. Then they will bunker.
It's a Cuper team.

They should change their home venue back to Malaysia rabbitfield. they could draw or 1-0 beat any team there, even Brazil.. 👍🫣🤣

[perspolis#1]

didn’t one of those arjantini marjantini players transfer to foolad?

Thats right Ibrahim Hesar who plays as an attack mid/second striker transferred to Foolad. He was playing for Belgrano and before that Estudiantes.

Of course this isn't football ability related its because Ghalieh Mahi >>>>>>> Empanadas

Syria is only a problem if they score. Then they will bunker.
It's a Cuper team.

Yes which is exactly what our current TM would struggle against.

They also play much harder vs us than others. We've struggled with them during CQ era also.

[Ostad_Goosfand]

Groups r potentially tough, looking at a possibility of Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Oman

Even with expansion qualifying is no guarantee. Asia is much stronger than 4 years ago. And the extra playoff round if we finish 3rd/4th is rigged lol.

Best hope is that Iranian can match energy of PP/esteghlal fans in Azadi. Too bad people care more about government run clubs than national team

[Team Melli Fan]

Huge result for Afghanistan if they can continue to hold Qatar

Tajikistan playing well so far against Jordan

Hoping both Afghanistan and Tajikistan make it to the next round