It had previously been listed on FIFA (and Wikipedia for that matter) that Iran was scheduled to play Thailand on November 9th, in advance of our match vs Syria in Malaysia. I can't seem to find that online at the moment, does anyone have a link to confirm this is still on? Would be a useful warm-up and also in the same part of the world as the WCQ, to help limit travel.
Going into 2017 we have dates for 5 FIFA match days available, in addition to the 5 remaining WC Qualifiers at the point, all also scheduled on FIFA match days (numbers assuming we are able to qualify outright). Going back four years to 2013 we've only held 5 or more official international friendlies once -- in 2014.
The dates with availability in our schedule are: 05 - 13 JUNE (1 friendly), 02 - 10 OCTOBER (2 friendlies), 06 - 14 NOVEMBER (2 friendlies).
Our AFC qualifying should be done by Sept 5th (vs Syria again), but UEFA, CAF, and CONCACAF run until mid-November, although CONMEBOL will be wrapped up by mid-Oct. This will shrink the pool of eligible teams for our open friendly dates to those already eliminated during a previous round of qualifying (which might be CQ's targets anyhow). FIFA is hosting the WC draw on December 1st, so even CONMEBOL teams free from qualifiers may be hesitant to schedule friendlies with potential WC rivals late into the fall when we have availability, although perhaps we may be able to lock-in an eliminated squad.
That said, based on past rumors/cancellations/style, etc., what are some teams that are looking like a good fit for these five dates? I think having a productive lead-up to WC 2018 in 2017 will be crucial if we're going to make it past the group stage.
Going into 2017 we have dates for 5 FIFA match days available, in addition to the 5 remaining WC Qualifiers at the point, all also scheduled on FIFA match days (numbers assuming we are able to qualify outright). Going back four years to 2013 we've only held 5 or more official international friendlies once -- in 2014.
The dates with availability in our schedule are: 05 - 13 JUNE (1 friendly), 02 - 10 OCTOBER (2 friendlies), 06 - 14 NOVEMBER (2 friendlies).
Our AFC qualifying should be done by Sept 5th (vs Syria again), but UEFA, CAF, and CONCACAF run until mid-November, although CONMEBOL will be wrapped up by mid-Oct. This will shrink the pool of eligible teams for our open friendly dates to those already eliminated during a previous round of qualifying (which might be CQ's targets anyhow). FIFA is hosting the WC draw on December 1st, so even CONMEBOL teams free from qualifiers may be hesitant to schedule friendlies with potential WC rivals late into the fall when we have availability, although perhaps we may be able to lock-in an eliminated squad.
That said, based on past rumors/cancellations/style, etc., what are some teams that are looking like a good fit for these five dates? I think having a productive lead-up to WC 2018 in 2017 will be crucial if we're going to make it past the group stage.
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