Group A: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguau Group B: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, IR Iran Group C: France, Australia, Peru, Denmark Group F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Korea Republic Group H: Poland, Senegal, Colombia, Japan Good luck
i think we've all got a decent chance to progress beyond the group stage. obviously iran and korea have harder groups than the rest of us on paper but we've all had much harder groups than these ones in the past..... i think with a bit of luck we're gonna see a few of our sides go through to the round of 16
Carlos Queiroz: Iran is facing its biggest challenge in history. “We’ve been drawn in the toughest group in the World Cup. Morocco are the best African team and the team’s results in the last two years speak for themselves. They have not conceded goals and claimed the African Nations Championship,” Queiroz said in an interview with Khabar Varzeshi sports daily. “Spain and Portugal are also favorites to win the title. To book a place in the next stage is the biggest challenge in Iran’s football history,” the former Real Madrid coach added. “We will play at the World Cup for our pride, that’s why I am here and I believe that those who don’t back the idea are the people who don’t respect Iran’s football,” the Portuguese coach stated. “For us, to be in knockout stage means conquering Mt Everest. This is the highest mount in front of Iran’s football and all of coaches and officials must take it seriously,” Queiroz concluded. http://www.teammelli.com/2018/04/11/iran-is-facing-its-biggest-challenge-in-history-queiroz/
I think Australia and Japan have the best chance looking at their groups. Can't see the other three progressing.
Yeah you're right, but for me Saudi is the weakest of the AFC teams so don't think they'll make it out still.
Interesting comparison on qualification performance compared to world cup performance Group winners Japan 4 pts r16 Iran 4 pts. group stage 3rd Group Runners up Saudi Arabia 3 pts group stage 3rd Korea 3 pts group stage 3rd Playoff winner Australia 1 pt group stage 4th Qualification performance was a pretty accurate reference point to World Cup performance. All teams had their moments. The peak single result was Korea eliminating the defending champions. Japan and Iran performed at a good consistant level. Saudi Arabia were blown off the park against Russia but showed good character to come back with better performances and get a win before going home. As for my nation, we didn't embarrass ourselves at all but we really need to find a way to score goals if we want to compete for a second round spot. Overall a much better tournament for Asian teams that 2014.
It was actually slightly better than Concacaf on a points-per-game basis - an average of 1 point for the group stage (15 points from 15 games), compared to 0.8 for Concacaf (7 points from 9 games). But year, pretty much on par. While Asian nations still have a long way to go to match the big boys, it's interesting that on a PPG basis Asia has been the 3rd best confederation (behind Europe and South America, obviously) in two of the past three tournaments - 2010 and 2018. Asia's disastrous showing in 2014 led more than a few people to make assumptions about the strength of the region that were a little wide of the mark. This World Cup has shown there are some quality players in Asia; the challenge is to develop some genuinely world-class talent that can carry more teams into the knock-out stages in future tournaments. I feel the depth in the confederation is improving - by the time the tournament expands to 48 teams in 2026, countries like Uzbekistan, Iraq, Syria and (possibly) China should be ready to compete on the big stage. But the top-end talent has definitely plateaued over the past decade, with Australia and South Korea in particular going backwards in terms of the number of elite players they're producing. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next four years. I can't wait for next year's Asian Cup, and to see how the Asian teams go in next year's u-20 and u-17 world cups.
IMO you mistake on the bolded part. Every team goes through a period that can be called their golden generation. When that period is over, It does not mean that they are always going backwards in terms of the number of elite players they are producing. Also football is different than what It was before. The gap between most teams is less now because football is global. So I disagree with you on the bolded part. If you are right on the bolded part, then we can also say that Iran is going backwards in terms of the number of elite players we are producing.
Yeah not that accurate of an assessment from ZelicMaestro to be honest. Probably confusing our NT underperforming with a talent drop off. There hasn't been much of a drop off, if at all.