2026 World Cup and 2027 Asian Cup Qualification process

I think it's a good and very necessary development. Its the only way for football in Asia to progress.

 

Oh yeah, what an embarassment of a "performance" by Iran.
No gameplan. No cohesion. The players looked like they literally did not give a f*ck.

The local football club in my town (small town in southern Sweden) u16 play better football than this horse manure I had to endure yesterday.

 

The way I see it... some countries are heavily investing in expats (Indonesia, Iraq) while some countries suffer from poor management (Australia, Iran). Japan still miles ahead of everyone. Speaking of Iraq, this is literally the first time since a long time where we've had the same coach throughout the whole qualifiers and with home advantage. I've never seen this kind of stability from us.

 

Your top players will make sure you'll qualify (Azmoun, Taremi). Individual talent is always there for Iran

 

Ill be expecting Iraq at the World Cup this time around.
Could not say Im as positive Iran will make it, if yesterdays match is an indication.

 

Iran will make it. Cant see Qatar or UAE finishing above you. Individual talent is key for Iran.

 

I think there’s too much pessimism among fans of the traditional big AFC nations. It’s only the first game, and there’s always usually a shock or 2 in the first game.

In 2022 wcq, Japan lost at home to Oman and SK dropped points to Iraq at home all in the first game. In 2018 Japan lost at home to the UAE in the first game.

My predictions haven’t changed, and it’ll be interesting to see how the big nations bounce back in a couple of days.

 

However, I’m very much in favor of the gap between the big nations and the tier 2 sides closing. But it’s too early to tell imo if that’s what’s happening here like I see a lot of you saying.

Middle Easter teams have always managed to shock the “big 5” on occasions, that’s nothing new there.

I will say in my opinion, Iraq and Uzbekistan are currently playing at the level of the traditional big 5, and we’ll see if they can keep it up. Jordan and Qatar are very close and arguably there as well. Other than that, not much has changed. Indonesia is promising but unproven. And of course, Japan is really in a tier of their own right now.

 

Just realized that one big problem North Korea have is that they are playing all their home games in Laos. This will be a huge disadvantage for them I think. No home crowd games, I still have them finishing last unfortunately...

 

Indonesia changed a lot since then. I counted like 3 players who look south east asians, the rest were white dudes. Dont get me wrong. Im all for whatever improves the competition in Asia. but yeah, Group C needs to take Indonesia seriously. They have starters upfront called Ragnar, and Ivar (not joking!). And the latter sure aint boneless.
We shouldnt read much into the results of this round. Lots of teams were caught sleeping. Clearly Saudi Arabia did not prepare at all. The first half was truly embarrassing. every build up ended with an unenforced error pass, as if they play together for the first time.
But im also worried about Mancini's style. Its just too conservative with little creativity upfront. But one unlucky deflection or a bounce messes the game plan of achieving the 1-0 score he loves. Maybe it will work in the WC finals if we reach it but we will drop way too many points in the qualifications. and in the last two cycles we challenged and dominated the midfield and did well given the level and quality of our players so i dont understand this complete change of style.

 

Matchday 3 - Predictions

China 0-0 Saudi Arabia
Indonesia 1-1 Australia
North Korea 0-2 Qatar
Kyrgyzstan 1-2 Uzbekistan
Oman 0-1 South Korea
Palestine 2-1 Jordan
Bahrain 0-2 Japan
UAE 1-1 Iran
Kuwait 1-0 Iraq

I see the big boys struggling. Don't believe in a massive change of MD 1's narrative

 

I Think Saudi Arabia are getting hurt by all the foreigners in their League. Mancini was complaining that 20 of his players are on the bench.

They didnt impress at the Asian Cup, and they drew at home against Indonesia and are now 1-0 Down against a weak china side, and Down to 10 men.

I really Think all the foreign players are ruining their national team

 

Australia already in big trouble...

 

Saudi Arabia won even though they were 10 men and a goal behind. Thailand should have had Chinas spot, they Would have done better.

Meanwhile Australia drew against Indonesia. I Think Indonesia need some offensive firepower. Then they could become a very good team.

North Korea and Qatar are battling it out right now in a swimmingpool in Laos. So much rain. I Think North Korea have Been understimated. They were down 2-1 and 10 men but managed to equalize. And they also missed a penalty against Uzbekistan in the first game.

 

As I was saying, North Korea won't be an easy team and could finish 4th in the group. The worst thing is that they're not playing in North Korea but in Laos.

 

The gap in Asia is closing and I like it. Its much more exciting now.

We all had Uzbekistan qualifying as a debutant from Asia. But maybe teams like Indonesia, Bahrain, Jordan and so on Can do some
Damage

 

Yeah much better to see. No longer the untouchable top three (Japan Australia and Korea). Nowadays every country has to work hard in order to qualify.

 

Looks like japan is head and shoulders above everyone else.

 

Nice to get a clean start. Im still not satisified with the performance overall, but hard to complain too much after 6 points from two matches. Hoping things will improve as we go along.
Uzbekistan away will be tough. I think Uzbekistan will definitely be one of the top two teams from this round to qualify to WC.

 

Japan had a poor Asian Cup for some reason but they were by far the best Asian team heading to the Asian Cup and have resumed their ruthless form and again running up the score against their opponents. That leaves little room for any debate regarding the best team from the AFC at the moment.

Japan's closest competitor in rank, Iran, can (when facing more serious rivals) still field a decent enough side by relying on its aging veteran players, but against lesser opponents (e.g. Hong Kong or Kyrgyzstan) when Iran's coach is more willing to experiment to transition to a much needed younger squad, the performances have frankly not been encouraging. Our younger defenders in particular have been less than reliable (Hazbavi especially but also Aria Yousefi), Injuries are also taking a great toll (esp. Pouraligangi, M Hosseini, Moharami, Mohebi); the drop in confidence/form of some of our top players also showing in their suddenly abysmal finishing; and all sorts of internal issues and contrived controversies (as well the hopefully soon to be resolved issues with our pitches and stadia) are putting additional unneeded strain and making things even worse. In a way, it is quite remarkable we are continuing winning our matches. The latter not something you can say for the rest of the top ranked sides in the AFC.

Anyway, the results from this round so far have been both interesting and in many ways unexpected. To be sure, I still expect the results to become more in line with conventional thinking, but a lot of sides who might have imagined cruising to qualify for the expanded World Cup now look like they will have to sweat it more.