BBC world cup info - IRAN would be an easy group for England

[Doctor DOOM]

Frankly, I hope we get the triple P's : Poland, Peru and Panama.

But I really wouldnt mind Russia, Portugal or even Argentina (they are several rungs weaker without Messi or if Messi is subdued).

However, the issue is whoever we get I sincerely hope CQ agrees to meet with at least 2-3 second tier teams (I understand why he wants to avoid the top 10 teams). We really need to be seriously tested in our defense, attitude, mental focus and fortitude against serious threats and big names.
Without that I'm afraid we'll either crumble or may have to resort to the old parked bus tactics!

[Essi]

I would love to have England in our group. I'm not saying we will beat them for sure but there is chance.

[Hadi]

I agree that people have that sentiment, but it's because they shamefully don't know anything about football outside of World Cups and FIFA video games. The English know very little of soccer outside of their own EPL clubs and Barcelona/Real. They aren't fans of the world game, just follow a club. I see this so much on forums like reddit. Very little education of other countries because of their delusional self-confidence.

Part of me enjoys being the underdog, but part of me is just sick of our players not getting any credit. These attitudes actually hurt our team as we lose opportunities for friendlies and transfers for our players because of this misplaced belief that we are weak.

People really want to play us and our rigid defense over a team like Costa Rica? Really. Again, people only watch soccer outside of their own countries' league like EPL, Serie A, La Liga, etc. and their own national teams once every 4 years.

People still act like Costa Rica is some powerhouse that should be feared despite Brazil being nearly 4 years ago with different coach, players, etc.

Not targeting Costa Rica, just using an example. I'd say that with Iceland, we may be one of the most dangerous 3rd seeds because we play with rigid organization and a culture to our football. Let people want us in their group though. Can't wait to make them cry like CQ has made our Asian opponents cry.

CQ promised in 2011 that our tears from losing major matches will be replaced with the tears of our opponents. We will now prove it on the world's biggest stage. Turn their happiness to draw us into despair.

i agree most people are ignorant about our team (which is a good thing) so we are kinda dark horses.
I think we wont be the worst team in the WC for sure because we will play good defensive football and get decent results but qualifying from our group is still a long shot i think. But if we ever had a remote chance of doing so, it would be this year!

[Paradigm]

To get true respect, you will have to earn it with planning and execution. Work hard and smart... bullying and making demands but not delivering is a trap to avoid. Have you done enough opposition research as far as the match ups go? I am still in pain from 2014's Bosnia experience.

[Philosophy_King]

Guys i cant describe how i feel when i see all the negative media about iran.
Let it be soccer, politics or even history. I dont know how you guys feel but i am
deeply hurt about all the movies they made about iran (films like alexander the great, 300,
and rise of an empire), deeply hurt when is see that in football (which is the most popular sport)
they dont give our boys the credit that they deserve, hurt when people mix iran with isis and
Terrorism, hurt when professors in the university are so biased about the greco-persian wars accepting
the greco-roman sources and their very negative view on the persians (The oriental despotism vs the free individual
good looking, strong europeans).

All this been said; i truly hope that CQ collects all this biased media about iranian football and show this
to our players. Show our players that they dont respect the achievements and the country.
Clearly football is just a sport, but it represents also the culture and the people
of an country specially in the world cup were everyone is watching it and become patriotic (if the specific country
is qualified) Iran is an ancient country full of Art, Poetry, Philosophy and Science. We had an big impact not just in Asia
but also in europe starting from the Teachings of Zartosht which influenced Presocratic Philosophy and even Platonism.
We had two great empires the first one which was the greatest empire in ancient times and truly humanistic where specially
Darius and Cyrus put zoroastrian teachings into practice.
The Sassanid Empire was the only superpower next to Rome. In many decisive battle the romans experienced their worst
defeats; f.e. the death of Crassus, the only time when Roman King (Valerian) became Prisoner of war, and the death of
Julian Apostate during his Persia Campaign). Obviousley all this is mostly conciously ignored by westerners and we
will never see a movie when we kicked romans asses or how the parthians defeated the seleucid greeks, not even
an movie about Cyrus who was praised not just by the greco-roman world but also in the bible.

It is up to us to educate ourselves about our country about our heritage. This is the only
way that we can avoid that the history and culture gets damaged due to political issues
and eurocentrism. I am not saying that we all should became zoroastrians again ( but its a swee dream honestly)
but we should respect it by studying some of it.

I wished i could tell this to our players, that we will stay 100% behind them in the WC 2018, that
we will love them even if they fail to progress to the next stage, we love them because
they fight and give their best to represent our nation which was inflicted in many wars since ancient times
but still keep its identity (thanks to Ferdousi) and play to make our people proud and happy again
in times were we suffer from the bad/negative media.

[AllStarMomo]

Its funny that everybody here is sad/angry/shocked that Iran is rated as one of the weakest teams.
To be honest why should be rated as a strong team by the media? We dont have many players in the Top 4 leagues! We have 0... No players in England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France. Almost all other National Teams have players in these leagues.
And we are definitely weaker than Denmark, Island, Sweden and also Egypt. Of course we can beat these teams but still generally I think its harder tonolay against Denmark than Iran. Iran can defend good but dont have many options for attacking. We saw this at the WC14. We didnt and couldnt contoll the game against our opponents.
Dont get me wrong. I dont think we are super weak! Most teams in POT4 are weaker and the half of POT3 are weaker than our Team. But the teams of POT1 and POT2 are on an other level then we are.
I think we will have 1 point or max 3 points. Depending on the team from the POT4.

[sarbaz]

Guys please

As much as I hate The England team let's be reall , they are better than us .

So I also say yes bring on the bastards and hopefully if TM plays a perfect game maybe we can beat them.

[Philosophy_King]

Its funny that everybody here is sad/angry/shocked that Iran is rated as one of the weakest teams.
To be honest why should be rated as a strong team by the media? We dont have many players in the Top 4 leagues! We have 0... No players in England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France. Almost all other National Teams have players in these leagues.
And we are definitely weaker than Denmark, Island, Sweden and also Egypt. Of course we can beat these teams but still generally I think its harder tonolay against Denmark than Iran. Iran can defend good but dont have many options for attacking. We saw this at the WC14. We didnt and couldnt contoll the game against our opponents.
Dont get me wrong. I dont think we are super weak! Most teams in POT4 are weaker and the half of POT3 are weaker than our Team. But the teams of POT1 and POT2 are on an other level then we are.
I think we will have 1 point or max 3 points. Depending on the team from the POT4.

The reason why Iran dont have many players in the Topliga has not to do
with lack of talent, but with politcal sanctions and the bad image that europeans
have about iran.
This makes it really hard for TM and Iran as a country to progress.

For me Iran is on par with Island, Denmark and Egypt. The outcome
of games gainst these Teams would pretty much depend on details.

[tooleh khers]

Our world cup record is abysmal. played in 4 world cups, 12 games, only 1 win, 8 losses, 7 goals scored and 22 goals allowed. Never advanced. I think we are the only country to have played in 4 world cups without advancing even once from the groups.

[Zamboor]

The reason why Iran dont have many players in the Topliga has not to do
with lack of talent, but with politcal sanctions and the bad image that europeans
have about iran.
This makes it really hard for TM and Iran as a country to progress.
For me Iran is on par with Island, Denmark and Egypt. The outcome
of games gainst these Teams would pretty much depend on details.

Actually one of the reasons we dont have players in top leagues is because some of our players are idiots who rather chill in Russia and make stupid decision over and over again.

[Omid177]

Our world cup record is abysmal. played in 4 world cups, 12 games, only 1 win, 8 losses, 7 goals scored and 22 goals allowed. Never advanced. I think we are the only country to have played in 4 world cups without advancing even once from the groups.

Tunisia also played 4 world cups and never advanced to the 2nd round. And Korea needed 5 attempts to go to the 2nd round (I don't count WC 2002).

[Ridi-Q-Lus]

Don't read the cbs sportsline rankings. It will upset you. It really doesn't bother me at all what our ranking is. It means absolutely nothing. We haven't had much success. Reputations are typically earned. We gotta go out there and earn it. [emoji1130]⚽️[emoji1377]

[Tehranto]

Don't read the cbs sportsline rankings. It will upset you. It really doesn't bother me at all what our ranking is. It means absolutely nothing. We haven't had much success. Reputations are typically earned. We gotta go out there and earn it. [emoji1130]⚽️[emoji1377]

Please share link.

[04041374]

Laola1 (Austrian sports portal) ranked Iran as 17th team

https://www.laola1.at/de/red/fussbal...wm-teilnehmer/

[Nokhodi]

Please share link.

The author must hate Iran. He has us 30th, but the comments are just spiteful. Clearly has never watched Iran.

https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/new...-from-1-to-32/

30. Iran
Best case scenario: Not finishing with a -10 goal differential and getting a point
Worst case scenario: Takes an 'L' in all three games
Why ranked here: Iran has made back-to-back World Cups for the first time ever. Only once, out of 12 matches, have they ever recorded a victory. About as good a chance of advancing as Aston Villa winning the Premier League (Spoiler - Aston Villa is currently in the Championship, not the Premier League. Therefore, they have no chance. Get it?)