What’s next for Team Melli?

PFDC – KUALA LUMPUR, Following the end of the third round of the Asian Qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Iran have booked their place in the second round along ten other teams – South Korea, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Australia, Iraq, Japan, Jordan and Uzbekistan.

Saudi Arabia saw their hopes in Brazil vanish as the Green Eagles lost 2-4 to already qualified Australia in Sydney. In group E, Bahrain defeated Indonesia 10-0 in a suspicious game which is currently undergoing FIFA investigation, although the Qataris shot them out of the competition with a late equalizer against Iran.

Meanwhile an important draw awaits Iran in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. The seeding for the draw will be based on the latest FIFA ranking, which will be published on Wednesday. The new ranking will be affected by the latest results in Asia quite a bit.

Japan’s 0-1 loss to Uzbekistan puts them in third place of the Asian ranking, and therefore in pot 2 with Iran. The two teams therefore will not meet each other in the upcoming decisive round. Pot 1 will consist of Australia and South Korea, who will each head one of the two groups of five teams, of which the top two will directly qualify for the 2014 World Cup while the two third-placed teams still have the chance to win a fifth spot for the finals in Brazil via a playoff – first between the two and then with a South American team.

Out of the few times Iran played against Australia, Team Melli won three times, lost twice and drew twice as well.

Iran vs. South Korea is an Asian evergreen which either side won nine times, while seven games ended in a tie.

The remaining teams in the qualification should be less of a problem than the teams from pot 1, with Uzbekistan, Qatar and Iraq being the teams more likely to challenge Iran.

Head to head with Iraq, Iran had left the pitch with 12 wins while only losing four matches. Iran has only faced the Uzbeks four times so far, winning twice and drawing twice. With Qatar, Iran has played 17 times, achieving ten wins, three losses and four draws, respectively.

All the matches will take place from June 13, 2012, to June 18, 2013.

Below come the pots for Friday’s draw.

Pot 1: Australia, South Korea
Pot 2: Japan, Iran
Pot 3: Uzbekistan, Iraq
Pot 4: Jordan, Qatar
Pot 5: Oman, Lebanon