plus Portugal. As for prep for Ghana I hope we can set friendlies against Senegal or Cameroon during September.
I am jealous. Iran has been trying hard to arrange friendlies, but none have been confirmed. The games you have lined up are very good preparation. Throw in a match against Nigeria or Ivory Coast, and you can't complain about not having had an excellent cast to prepare you for the teams you will face in your group.
Must be difficult for you to set friendlies as UEFA and CONCACAF are playing their leagues of their own (Nations League).
African teams are also playing four matchdays of their qualifiers for AFCON 2023. It's just a mess. South American and Asian teams got few decent teams to choose from. So, it would be logical if we see several CONMEBOL-AFC friendlies lining up.
The creation of the NL was the best idea ever from UEFA. It strenghened 2nd tier sides in Europe. I guess we'll see UEFA reaping the fruits of that by a very strong showing in Qatar. At the end of the day every confederation needs to create its own NL or join a global Nations League. There is just no other way.
At some point Iran was mentioned as one of the options that Peru had to play a friendly before the playoff. At the end, it was New Zealand.
I heard that too. I have heard about Iran trying to also play one of Argentina or Brazil when they play their cancelled match in Qatar. Other names mentioned have been Canada, Uruguay and New Zealand. But I don't think we have any actual confirmed friendlies up to now. Besides the problems everyone else is facing arranging friendlies, Iran has some unique issues due to sanctions and such which make it even more difficult to find sponsors and engage in the financial transactions relating to such friendlies.
It's not always sanctions that hinder Iran to find solid friendlies. At times Iran refuses itself to play better teams. I saw the other day an article stating that Japan would have invited Iran to the Kirin Cup but Iran turned down the invitation due to the sponsor being a beer producer....
I believe the CAF sides are only playing 2 match days. Many of them have already organized friendlies. Morocco is playing the US. Nigeria is playing Mexico and Ecuador. Ghana is playing Japan in Kirin cup. Tunisia also playing in Kirin cup.
Yeah, my initial post said they would play 4 before the Worlc Cup takes place which is technically correct.
Just a side comment (there's a NL-specific thread, so won't derail too much here ), but something's gotta give: FIFA will have to [crap] or get off the pot with a Global Nations League initiative, 'cause UEFA and Conmebol are 'bout ready to jump the gun in 2024...
What I heard is that Tunisia is trying to boycot the Afcon qualifiers and want to prepare for the World Cup best as possible. The CEO of the FA said that. I hope the other 4 African teams will also boycot the Afcon qualifiers. Even the one in September. I hope Morocco will send a local team for those matches.
CAF really needs to do a rethink about these aFCON qualifiers. They need to incorporate some kind of Nations League so that the top teams can play each other more often instead of going up over and over again against minnows to qualify for a 24 team tournament. The Nations League can serve a dual purpose to qualify teams to the afcon. It would just be more exciting and beneficial for the top teams. Thats the way the rest of the world is going, CAF would be stupid to just get left behind.
Brazil friendlies: 6-6 vs Japan in Tokyo 11-6 vs Argentina in Melbourne Rumours another friendly in Brazil vs Argentina in Brazil. They don't want to play an WC q official match.
There are rumors and reports that Iran may play Canada in Canada in June. Canada would be an ideal test for Iran, given the teams in Group B. And while I'm not thrilled with the venue, seeing Iran flying such a long distance to play Canada, I'll take that over nothing and hope these rumors/reports are true.
I wonder who is going to play against Israel Albania and Iceland in the spare dates, surely for some non uefa teams, any friendly against uefa opposition is better than none.