Well, functionally it doesn't change Pot 1 or Pot 4. Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, and Kyrgyzstan are the only losers in this deal.
I was only 6 years old in 1996. I do not remember it. Hopefully another Iranian poster can respond you here. I do not want to talk about 2015. The worst one was 2004 where Iran played with 9 men against host China in semi-final due to two wrong red cards. There were other questionable decisions in that game too. Those red cards changed the game. At the end of the day we lost that match in penalties. I remember Japan coach Zico in the pre-match conference of final said he is very happy that he is facing China instead of Iran in the final. Chinese in the pre-match conference protested him. Japan and Iran played goalless draw in the group stage of that Asian Cup. Based on recent rumors, we may send our B team with B coach to the next Asian Cup. Here are the highlights of China vs Iran match in 2004 and one of the red cards:
^ I just add to your 2004 explanation. The Arab referee was so happy giving red cards and yellows to Iranian team but when Ali Karimi (best Asian player of 2004) was brought down by Chinese defense when he was on one vs one position with Chinese goal keeper. The Chinese defender just got a yellow card instead of red. You can see this in highlights. Same referee send two Iranian players out one of which was for a Chinese act! If you look at any European or American soccer match, you know that one vs one position when a striker is only facing opponent goal keeper without any defender and a defender bring down the striker with a tackles from behind. It has always a red card. It was not the case in that match.
I was 9. And it was the first time I was legitimately watching a football match. The infamous 6-2 versus s.korea made Ali Daei a national hero overnight, specially since he kept going with a broken head despite the blood soaked bandages wrapped around his head. The Saudi's were absolutely crushed 3-0 in the group stage by us but with the help of the ref - WAY more than 2015 btw - they managed to drag it into penalties and Iran and penalties are like fire and water.
I don't get why Iran fans are always saying they got robbed in 2015. Pooladi tried to stamp on our GK, and then he dived on the floor pretending he got hit in the face when he didn't. That's arguably 2 yellows right there, and he was already on a yellow at that time. I get that you were a better team than us but you lost because of your own player not because of the ref.
For me, Reza Ghoochannejhad is more national hero than Ali Daei. IMO our top football legend from 1996 to present is Mehdi Mahdavikia.
Although I disagree with you but we really did not discuss about 2015. I assume that the red card was a given gift from God to make Iraqi fans happy that day who were not happy for while. Anyway forget 2015 and focus more on future bro.
Two people already mentioned the 2015 and the referee and someone said that Iran "got robbed". That's why I mentioned it. I think it's the Iran fans who should forget about it. It's been 3 years and they still did not recover. The red card was a gift given to us by Mehrdad Pooladi to make us even more happy by passing the quarter finals 2 times out of the past 3 including the ultimate moment of happiness in 2007.
They did not discuss about 2015 matches. They said 1996, 2004, and 2015. Their statements were general one. The passion we Iran football fans have for World Cup Qualifiers and World Cup is not comparable with Asian Cup. The main objective for Iran football is world cup tournament. So Asian Cup is not big enough at least for me to not recover from it. At the moment our only focus is doing well at the WC 2018 which is the biggest challenge in our football history according to CQ due to challenging group we got.
We have already talked about 2015. It is not worth it to go over and over for pages. We simply agree that we disagree with you guys (Iraqi fans). I don't want to comment on second card given to pooladi but his first yellow was a total BS which makes his red card an error.