Kinda crazy that they aren't playing all the groups finales at the same time. Results between groups affect other in the runners up case and with several top 2 matchups today, there is even some chance of collusion if a particular result suites both parties. Things could get interesting with some bottom teams not determined, especially Yemen-Palestine which would affect Uzbekistan's points tally in the runner up table
Not just crazy but disgustingly transparent. The most critical games are played in 3 "GCC" states: Bahrain (Iran v Iraq), Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia v Uzbekistan), and UAE (Australia v Jordan and UAE v Vietnam). And the schedule happens to have Iran v Iraq (which was supposed to be one of our home game but all of our home games, including against Bahrain, were moved to Bahrain by the AFC) go first, with the result known sufficiently in advance of the other matches concluding for any collusion that might happen. The only way for Iran to avoid being victimized by such collusion is to win against Iraq. Otherwise, if we don't win, the other sides will know exactly the result they will need to advance. For me, that is scandalous. But I can write a long essay on the bizarre decisions by the AFC just this past year which have tried to victimize Iran and Iranian clubs, even if most of them have ended up backfiring, with Iran and Iranian clubs actually becoming even more determined to get the results they need.
Yeah, I don't like it. And you see the same thing at major tournament finals like the Euros. It's stupid though because it is easy to avoid. Just have fewer groups and let the top 2 advance. Six groups of 6, for instance. QED.
This is different because all these matches in the same region/general time zone could have easily been scheduled to start at the same time. It almost requires an intent to facilitate collusion to have scheduled them this way.
This is exactly what I'm thinking... 5 groups with the top 2 advance, and just eliminate 5 more teams in the earlier rounds. Teams like Guam, Chinese Taipei, Mongolia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, etc are clearly out of their depth at this level and would be more fitting playing in sort of league of their own. Too bad Uzbekistan could get eliminated despite finishing 2nd tonight as they were in a group without any of these minnows. There were some interesting results last qualification campaign with Guam, Philippines, Bhutan, etc. having some relative success but these teams seem to have regressed since then.... also having the final few games all played at one of the group nation's home instead of neutral venues - a real get out of jail card for the likes of UAE, Kuwait, Saudi, etc and fans should never have been let back in the stadiums as this gives these teams a huge advantage.. meh, let's hope the best teams can go through in the end....
I've already proposed six groups of six. I don't like when almost all the teams are eliminated before the first group stage, but not all of the teams. AFC eliminated 6 of 46 before the first group stage, and I'd prefer it be 10 of 46. India's 1-1 draw with Afghanistan made Oman the fifth team to advance. Australia and Jordan are scoreless early. Jordan will be eliminated if they lose.
144. Jordan (needed a draw and lost to Australia 1-0) Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam advanced because if they finish second they will be above Jordan, Tajikistan, and Lebanon. Bahrain will be eliminated soon because they need Iran to lose by a ton and Iran leads 1-0. After Iran advances, China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon will be five teams competing for three spots.
United Arab Emirates allowed 2 late goals but held on to beat Vietnam 3-2. Both of them advance. Tajikistan isn't eliminated, but they need China to lose by 13. China is eliminated if they lose by 13 or if they lose by 9 to 12 and Uzbekistan wins or draws. If Uzbekistan wins or draws, they advance, and if they lose it advances Lebanon. China leads Syria 1-0, and Saudi Arabia leads Uzbekistan 2-0.
142 and 141. Tajikistan 142 and 141. Uzbekistan I do not know whether China vs. Syria or Saudi Arabia vs. Uzbekistan ended first.
Wow, Uzbekistan not even making the final round is a shocker. On the other hand, at least this means their fans have been put out of their misery a bit early this time.
Another one bites the dust. 140. Curacao Although Panama was giving them every chance in the world to stay alive.
139. Haiti (lost to Canada 3-0 in Bridgeview near Chicago, Canada won the aggregate 4-0) 138. St. Kitts and Nevis (El Salvador leads tonight 1-0 and leads the aggregate 5-0 in the 87th minute) I think nobody else will be eliminated until October when UEFA and CAF will have eliminations. AFC will have the Round 3 draw on 1 July.
I read elsewhere that it was June 24 but that made no sense as FIFA rankings wouldn't have been updated with Junes games at that stage. Be interesting to see how the pots end up. The top 4 teams won all their matches in June so I wouldn't expect the top 4 to change enough to affect the seedings. Some people criticise the FIFA rankings but in AFC's case in the last published ranking in May the top 13 finished in the 13 qualifying positions.
The different pots or seeds for the 3rd round of the World Cup qualifiers in the AFC will probably be as follows . As an aside, except for Saudi Arabia which I absolutely don't want in Iran's group, I will be otherwise fine with whatever group Iran end up with,
Wikipedia says "the seeding for the draw will be based on a special release of the FIFA World Rankings for Asian teams on 18 June 2021."
I wouldn't expect the pots to change at the top as all those teams won all their games in June. I'm hoping to draw Iran. Ever since we joined Asia its been Japan and us in one group and Korea and Iran in the other. We have played Korea a few times in Asian Cups but we haven't played Iran since 1997. It's time. Don't really care who we draw from the other pots. They all present challenges.
Honest q: how far are we from fans returning to stadiums in Asia? I'm excited to see those games on Paramount+ here, but they will lack a certain luster if fans aren't allowed in...
In Australia we have had fans in stadia since late last year to differing degrees in different areas. The problem is that we require anyone entering the country to undergo 2 weeks quarantine which eliminates the possibility of hosting international football games as FIFA windows don't go that long. Hopefully this will change at sometime. Qualifying for a world cup with no home games will be tough.
I've run through the projections from football-rankings.info and this is my guess for the impacts. As the table above indicates - the UAE has moved above Iraq into Pot 3 (Australia moved ahead of S Korea and Oman ahead of Syria but neither affects the Pots). Team Old Seed Old rank Pts Ch. New rank New Seed Japan 1 1509.34 20.152 1529.492 1 Iran 2 1499.52 22.479 1521.999 2 Korea Republic 3 1460.25 14.76 1475.01 4 Australia 4 1457.49 19.767 1477.257 3 Saudi Arabia 5 1364.39 21.615 1386.005 5 Iraq 6 1352.82 1.705 1354.525 7 United Arab Emirates7 1330.16 32.062 1362.222 6 China PR 8 1322.96 29.791 1352.751 8 Syria 9 1304.12 -1.397 1302.723 10 Oman 10 1301.51 4.575 1306.085 9 Vietnam 11 1285.06 2.763 1287.823 11 Lebanon 12 1256.08 -19.312 1236.768 12 J
Azerbaijan scored in the 45+1st to lead 1-0 at halftime in Ireland, while Serbia leads Luxembourg 2-0. If Azerbaijan and Serbia hold on, Ireland will be eliminated in three days if they lose to Serbia or if they draw with Serbia and Portugal gets at least a draw in Azerbaijan. Georgia will be eliminated if they lose at Spain tomorrow, and Wednesday has Sweden win at Greece and Spain win at Kosovo while Georgia has off. Lithuania is at Bulgaria tomorrow and at Italy on Wednesday. If Lithuania gets 0 or 1 point, they could be eliminated. They will be eliminated if they get 1 point, Switzerland wins hosting Italy tomorrow, and Switzerland wins at Northern Ireland on Wednesday; or if they lose both and Switzerland gets a win and a draw. Liechtenstein will be eliminated if they lose at Romania tomorrow, lose at Armenia on Wednesday, and Germany gets at least 4 points from hosting Armenia tomorrow and at Iceland on Wednesday. I'm not checking who plays who to find out if any of Faroe Islands, Moldova, Gibraltar, or San Marino can be eliminated this month.
Ireland equalized in the 87th. They and Azerbaijan have 1 point, and Serbia and Portugal have 10. On Tuesday, if Serbia wins at Ireland and Portugal wins at Azerbaijan, Ireland and Azerbaijan will be eliminated, and the group of five will only have three teams left going into October, with the other one being Luxembourg. I wonder if Luxembourg has ever played a group in which they were not one of the first two teams eliminated. Since this group plays before Georgia, Lithuania, and Liechtenstein, Ireland and Azerbaijan could be the first UEFA teams eliminated.