What a big disappointment. Again the same opponents. Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar. What a boring group. I really wanted Iraq and Saudi but we are always unlucky...
I just wished we could get Iraq over Qatar. Other than that I am happy with draw. I personally did not want Saudi Arabia in our group not because I am scared of them. I just want we play all of our home games in Iran. Saudi Arabia will be trashed in other group most likely.
The most balanced draw anyone can wish for. Group A: Iran shall be happy because they avoided Japan and Saudi, while getting Syria means an automatic 6 points for them. Korea will face difficulties against almost all of their group opponents. Uzbeks might be the dark horse. China can make problems for any team, especially Iran and Korea because of their historical rivalry + they tend to step up against big teams, and surely they can upset Uzbekistan as they did in the last Asian Cup. Uzbeks and Chinese might not qualify, but they will play key roles in deciding the identity of the qualifiers. Qatar... oh..... I think they get the hardest possible draw for them, Uzbeks will be harder than Saudis, Chinese harder than UAE and Syria harder than Thais. So I really think they have 0 chance even to reach the play-off, unless they benefited from other results. Syria is clearly the weakest team in this group, but they surely can get some points from the Uzbeks, Chinese and Qataris, they might at least decide the identity of the team who will finish 3rd and advance to the play-off. Group B: With 3 Arab teams, especially with UAE's golden generation which already knocked out Japan in the last Asian Cup, Saudi with Bert Van Marwijk as their manager, and the never-say-die Iraqis, anything could happen in this group. I think Japan will be the favourite, as they are better than Australia in handling teams from middle east. So I expect Japan either to top the group or at least finish second, while Australia might find it difficult even to finish in second place, and a play-off spot might be a big possibility. UAE and Saudi will be contenders for one of the top 3 spots. While the best Iraq can aim for is 3rd place. Thailand has 0 chance to either qualify or finish 3rd, but they shall make problems for some teams, especially Iraq and the Aussies (who will find it tough to adapt to the weather in South East Asia, as was the case in 2007 Asian Cup). Good Luck for all teams involved (and especially for Japan).
I'm pretty happy about the draw. On paper our group looks tough but in reality it's a walk in the park for us and Korea. . qatar is all hype, bunch of south american rejects. And Syria and China are just 12 juicy points. lol. Also I'm glad our boys won't have to get tainted by getting in close proximity of 0-8ers. Infact the only thing I would change is Korea. Would have preferred Japan - just for the sake of variety.
Overall excellent comment but many Iranians were hoping to get Japan over Korea this time. Anyway the draw is done and nothing can be changed. Time to focus on future.
Well, as if playing at your home stadium against Saudis will make any difference? I suppose you were born in 1998, so you don't know anything about Saudis having the upper hand against Iran in the history of their clashes In 1994 WCQ they defeated you. In 1996 they knocked you out in the semi-final. In 1998 WCQ they collected 4 points from you. In 2002 WCQ they topped the group and you finished second, missing on a place in 2002 WC. In 2010 WCQ they defeated you in your home soil, collecting 4 points from you, despite not being in their best. So are you still not scared of them?
It will. I was born before 1998. I started to follow Iran national team from 1997 to now. Cannot remember before that due to my age. Who did we have as our head coach in 1997 and 2009? Daei and Mayeli Kohan. Search about them and you will get what I mean. In 2001, we collected four points from them but we dropped points in other matches. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain collaborated with each other. In 2001, the seeding was suspicious. They put Iran and KSA in different pot when they both were a head and shoulder above China and other teams at that time (China lost 4-0 in a friendly match against Iran at that time) It was like having Korea and Japan in the same group and the runner up have to beat the second team of this group in the play off: Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Cyprus, Estonia, Andorra. We also trashed them 3-0 once. They have not been in our group when we had CQ or Branko Ivankovic as our head coach. btw we have finished above them more than they did when both Iran and KSA were in the same group. WCQ 1978 is an example. Note that our head to head record against them is still better. Their team is totally different than their past team like our team. Because of new tensions between these two countries it was better to not be in the same group with them. So No I am not scared of them at all and I am almost sure we would have finished above them this time.
No, we can defeat them with ease. Some Iranians want to avoid KSA because of non-football drama and shenanigans associate with their match.
Good luck Uzbekistan and South Korea! Get revenge this time for that 90+4 minute winner against Iran.
all I can is good luck uzbekistan. just try not to drop any points vs. Qatar, China, and Syria when you can barely beat a 10 man Philippine team at home. (PH were on a good run this time but c'mon you wanna beat Iran and Korea like this?) Uzbekistan best chance is 3rd place should they not mess it up against the mentioned teams. China and Qatar will cause problems for them. If Samvel Babayan is a good coach, he can get the job done.
Babayan is a terrible coach, but players themselves are enough to win one of automatic qualification spots to Russia-2018, anyway Philippine is a way strogner than Turkmenistan
I know he is shit coach. That was a big IF. Regarding your statement, I'll put it in a simple form. Good players can turn things around....but can good players vs. good players and a decent coach always get the result they want even against China or Qatar. Probably not. I really like Uzbekistan as a football team and hope they get their shit together so they can deservedly follow the top 4 teams this time to WC 2018. I can understand why Uzbek fans are obsessed with Korea and Iran but there are bigger issues here to consider.
at least we don't have misunderstandings between our coach and federation like you, both of Babayan and UFF are equally stupid to understand well each other
lol that's a pretty dumb statement. here we go again with the iran/korea obsession and change of topic. iran is performing under CQ since 2014 WCQ and has been getting better BUT CQ is looking further into that. His main objective is to make the second round of WC 2018 and do that, he wants guarantee of certain things such as hiring international fitness experts, more advanced equipment, improvement of training facilities, better training camps abroad and friendlies, etc. In a week or two, all of these requests will probably will be confirmed by Iran's Fed according to sport officials in Iran.