World Cup 2026 qualification gets underway !!!

[Karimi 8]

Had to be In the office with in person meetings, first TM match I’ve missed in over 10 years I think. Couldn’t find any full match links and had to give in to see the highlights. Congrats to all team melli fans.

it seems like it was a given we’d qualify, our group was very weak and the new format kind of ruined the qualifiers. The joys of Iran vs Australia, and Gucci’s goal vs Korea are now gone, Asia is very weak and we would have to be absolute garbage to not qualify for every wc moving forward.

Our defense is shaky, our goalie’s IQ is low, our coach is clueless, but our attack can score against any team in the world. Very weird mixed feelings of uncertainty, but tonight let’s celebrate.

I myself have promised myself I have waited long enough. I will pay however much it costs to see Iran play in the WC and will do my best to get a ticket for 2026

[Damavand]

Day 8 Results



Japan - KSA..........................0-0

S Korea - Jordan ...................1-1

China - Australia......................0-2

Indonesia - Bahrain..................1-1

Kyrgyzstan - Qatar..................3-1

Iran - Uzbekistan....................2-2

palestine - Iraq.........................2-1

Kuwait - Oman.........................0-1

N Korea - UAE........................1-2

[Damavand]

An Unbiased opinion and thoughts on Asian qualifies Group A:

[Nokhodi]

An Unbiased opinion and thoughts on Asian qualifies Group A:

This guy is more well researched and more reasonable than most TM fans. He even points out that the majority of TM fans are just negative.

[Super Shojaei]

1-1 draw with Zimbabwe i guess that’s it with Nigeria they are out - shows having world class players means nothing if cohesion an’t there

[Super Shojaei]

Had to be In the office with in person meetings, first TM match I’ve missed in over 10 years I think. Couldn’t find any full match links and had to give in to see the highlights. Congrats to all team melli fans.

it seems like it was a given we’d qualify, our group was very weak and the new format kind of ruined the qualifiers. The joys of Iran vs Australia, and Gucci’s goal vs Korea are now gone, Asia is very weak and we would have to be absolute garbage to not qualify for every wc moving forward.

Our defense is shaky, our goalie’s IQ is low, our coach is clueless, but our attack can score against any team in the world. Very weird mixed feelings of uncertainty, but tonight let’s celebrate.

I myself have promised myself I have waited long enough. I will pay however much it costs to see Iran play in the WC and will do my best to get a ticket for 2026

I guess Nigeria proved you can have the worlds best players and still f things up against minnows teams - we’ve had star studded teams like the one in 2002 fail so I guess there’s positive to take

I still would rather a more experimental coach we really need fresh blood in this team

[perspolis#1]

I guess Nigeria proved you can have the worlds best players and still f things up against minnows teams - we’ve had star studded teams like the one in 2002 fail so I guess there’s positive to take

I still would rather a more experimental coach we really need fresh blood in this team

True but similar to 2002 TM and this Nigeria is individualism and no tactical strategy.

I stand by following statement: Despite stronger names on paper, 2006 TM in 450 minutes(~5 games) would be unable to score on prime 2018 TM defense unless maybe one fluke deflection goal.

Meanwhile GN 2025 TM vs 2006 TM in 5 games would be high scoring affair with mostly losses in everygame vs 2006 team. Thinking like 5-3 or 4-2 games.

Also sometimes there are other reasons big teams fail in Qualifying:

I watched Cameroon's disastrous away tie vs Eswatini and field was horrendous and Eswatini wasted 30 minutes time...

Cameroon players were not even trying to pass through. They were trying to 1v3 everyone like in PGL

[PSGman#19]

2002 had some stars (not Messi or CR7 either, let's not exaggerate but also very weak players). IPL was much weaker back then, our TM wasn't organized and we didn't have such margin than on other asian teams. Now lot of our players had an experience in Europe or under a foreign coach, experienced CQ organization and even our random IPL players can do the job against bahrain or Thailand

[oracle]

True but similar to 2002 TM and this Nigeria is individualism and no tactical strategy.

I stand by following statement: Despite stronger names on paper, 2006 TM in 450 minutes(~5 games) would be unable to score on prime 2018 TM defense unless maybe one fluke deflection goal.

Meanwhile GN 2025 TM vs 2006 TM in 5 games would be high scoring affair with mostly losses in everygame vs 2006 team. Thinking like 5-3 or 4-2 games.

Also sometimes there are other reasons big teams fail in Qualifying:

I watched Cameroon's disastrous away tie vs Eswatini and field was horrendous and Eswatini wasted 30 minutes time...

Cameroon players were not even trying to pass through. They were trying to 1v3 everyone like in PGL

2002 tm team WAS SPECIAl, can argue BEST GROUP OF PLAYERS TOGETHER AT ONE PLACE.
world class coach in chiro too.

that team should of beat every team by 2 goal margin but was cursed missing so much scoring opportunity. And asia having only 2.5 spots didn't help either.

What that team missed imo Was khodad azizi in his prime.

Yeah azizi take us to one wc ,but he also taked one away from us.

[PSGman#19]

Africans teams despite having stars are known to disorganized and lack of unity. That's why so many of their big teams choke