Qatar had the best showing at the Asian Cup in 2019, but that didn't make them the best team even then. There are teams and individual players who have stand out performances over a short period but then begin to fade.
QAT will soon play another AFC tournament next January. Just watch the next wankfest praising QAT during another AFC tournament where it will manage to accumulate points.
The gulf cup is a regional tournament on non FIFA dates. I don't think there are many points available to exchange on those type of matches
I agree with that ranking, but I think it would make more sense to group the teams in terms of leagues, instead of numerical ratings. I would put Japan in their own league at the top. Then Australia. Then South Korea/Iran/Saudi, with South Korea arguably slightly in a higher mini-league than Iran/Saudi, with Iran/Saudi being virtually inseparable, then Qatar in a league of their own at the bottom. South Korea had a favourable draw, they played a weak Uruguay side that Iran beat just before the WC, and they lost to Ghana. They beat a Portugal who had nothing to play for in bizarre circumstances, 9/10 times they would lose that game. Then they got destroyed by Brazil in the most lop-sided half of the tournament, losing 4-0 with no answer, at least Iran got a bit unlucky in that England scored virtually 100% of their few chances but Brazil absolutely obliterated Korea on every single attack and could have scored 6-7 goals in the first half. Similarly, Saudi had a 1 in 20 game chances win against Argentina, any other day Argentina would have won that by 2-3 goals. But still, let's give Saudi some credit for this victory, which would pull them up to Iran's level overall. Then Saudi played a weak Poland and lost 2-0 with nothing to show for and also lost clearly to arguably the weakest Mexican side of all time. Wales was weak but not that much weaker than Poland/Mexico, and Iran easily beat Wales 2-0. Also, USA was stronger than Poland and Mexico and Iran played an equal game to USA.
I pretty much agree. The things that separated them in my mind were as I mentioned, Korea made the knockouts and Saudi Arabia had a win against a very highly rated. I don't think there was much between them. Japan were the standout AFC team, and Australia performed much better than expected and possibly only losing to the finalists (France/Morocco are still to play as I type)
Seems you had to be pretty good to beat us this world cup. The two teams that managed to beat us are now playing in the final. That will make 4 of 6 world cups where the eventual winner defeated us on the way to the title. It may be a good omen for a tier 1 side to play us in a world cup.
My ranking/grade of the AFC sides in this tournament would be as follows: Japan B+ (GS: B+, C+, B+; KO: B+) Australia B/B+ (GS: C, B, B+; KO: B) S. Korea B (GS: B+, B-, B+; KO: C+) Iran B-/B (GS: C, B+, B-; KO: N/A) Saudi Arabia B-/B (GS: B+, B-, C; KO: N/A) Qatar C/C+ (GS: C, C+, C+; KO: N/A)
I wonder if we will see an AFC EAST and WEST split within the next few years. From what I've heard there is a lot of disagreement with how the confederation is being managed as of late. If they do split maybe New Zealand could finally get into AFC.
In the unlikely event of a split it may not be on purely geographic terms. There are some nations in the west that may not like being a part of what would essentially become an Arab confederation.
Yeah most likely the Stans, Iran, and some of the south Asian nations would not want to be part of it.
My overall thoughts without singling out individual teams. Asia for the first time improved for 3 successive tournaments. The past has been pretty much one step forward one step back. In 2014 Asia had 4 reps, hadn't won an intercontinental playoff since the representation was increased to 4.5 and every team that qualified finished last with 3 points between them. In 2018 AFC won an intercontinental playoff to get to 5 teams for the first time. One team qualified for the round of sixteen, 1 missed 3 others won a game and finished 3rd and only the team qualifying through playoffs finished last with a point. 15 points between them. This year the AFC team won the IC playoff again, and 6 teams (including the host) represented AFC for the first time. 3 of those 6 made the R16, one as a group winner. The two qualified teams both won a game, one finishing 3rd the other 4th. The team finishing 4th defeating the eventual winner in their first game. Only the host turned in a completely disappointing performance failing to register a point. 22 points were obtained by the AFC reps. I think those of us who were saying that the quality of AFC teams has increased overall now have some cross confederation performances to back that up.
I'm not a fan of Russia's political leaders but then I could say that of a lot of AFC countries and I've managed to separate politics from football reasonably well. I'm indifferent on Russia joining. If it was up to me I would want to be convinced that Russian Football is committed to AFC and we aren't just a casual stop while UEFA won't let them play. I would stipulate that Russia, UEFA and FIFA agree with the transfer and that it must stay in place for a minimum of 25 years before any attempt by Russia to rejoin UEFA. They would offer extra competition which would be a good thing but I'm not convinced that they wouldn't jump back to UEFA at the first opportunity.
The report card for the matches played by the AFC teams in Qatari is as follows. The FIFA rankings right before the start of the tournament (Oct. 2022) for each of the AFC teams and their opponents is in parenthesis, the stats for each match, namely goals, shots (shot on goal), xGD (xG - xG) is provided as part of the match summary. All the AFC teams are listed first and the stats below follow the same sequence. Big fonts indicate highly ranked teams and vice versa. MD1 1. Qatar (#50) v Ecuador (#44): 0:2 (0:2) Goals: 0: 2 (16'p, 31') Shots (SOG): 5 (0) v 6 (3) xGD (xG - xG): - 63 (0.46 - 1.09) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 0:22. Iran (#20) v England (#5): 2:6 (0:3) Goals: 2 (71', 90+13p): 6 (35'. 43', 45+1', 62', 71', 90') Shots (SOG): 8 (3) v 13 (7) xGD (xG - xG): - 87 (1.52 - 2.39) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 2:53. Saudi Arabia (#51) v Argentina (#3): 2:1 (0:1) Goals: 2 (48', 53'): 1 (10'p) Shots (SOG): 3 (2) v 15 (6) xGD (xG - xG): - 2.13 (0.16 - 2.29) comment: upset result; unusual game I score it: 2:24. Australia (#38) v France (#4): 1:4 (1:2) Goals: 1 (9'): 4 ('27, 32', 68', 71") Shots (SOG): 4 (1) v 23 (7) xGD (xG - xG): - 4.02 (0.57 - 4.59) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 1:45. Japan (#24) v Germany (#11): 2:1 (0:1) Goals: 2 (75', 83'): 1 (33'p) Shots (SOG): 12 (4) v 26 (9) xGD (xG - xG): - 1.75 (2.06 - 3.81) comment: upset result; result somewhat inconsistent with run of play I score it: 2:26. S. Korea (#28) v Uruguay (#14): 0:0 Goals: 0:0 Shots (SOG): 7 (0) v 10 (1) xGD (xG - xG): +0.04 (0.72 - 0.68) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 1:1 MD2 7. Iran (#20) v Wales (#19): 2:0 (0:0) Goals: 2 (90+8, 90+11): 0 Shots (SOG): 21 (6) v 10 (3) xGD (xG - xG): +0.79 (1.76 - 0.97) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 2:08. Qatar (#50) v Senegal (#18): 1:3 (0:1) Goals:1 (78'): 3 (41', 48', 84') Shots (SOG): 10 (3) v 13 (5) xGD (xG - xG): -0.51 (1.02 - 1.53) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 1:39. Australia (#38) v Tunisia (#30): 1:0 (1:0) Goals: 1 (23'): 0 Shots (SOG): 9 (2) v 14 (4) xGD (xG - xG): -0.58 (1.02 - 1.31) comment: result slightly inconsistent with run of play I score it: 1:110. Saudi Arabia (#51) v Poland (#26): 0:2 (0:1) Goals: 0: 2 (39', 82') Shots (SOG): 10 (3) v 13 (5) xGD (xG - xG): -0.49 (2.25 - 2.74) comment: result slightly inconsistent with run of play I score it: 2:211. Japan (#24) v Costa Rica (#31): 0:1 (0:0) Goals: 0:1 (81') Shots (SOG): 13 (3) v 4 (1) xGD (xG - xG): +0.92 (1.05 - 0.13) comment: result not consistent with run of play I score it: 0:012. S. Korea (#28) v Ghana (#61): 2:3 (0:2) Goals: 2 (58', 61') :3 (24', 34', 68') Shots (SOG): 22 (7) v 7(3) xGD (xG - xG): +0.77 (2.29 - 1.52) comment: result somewhat inconsistent with run of play I score it: 2:2 MD3 13. Qatar (#50) v Holland (#8): 0:2 (0:1) Goals: 0: 2 (26', 49') Shots (SOG): 5 (3) v 13 (4) xGD (xG - xG): -0.82 (0.23 - 1.05) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 0:214. Iran (#20) v USA (#16): 0:1 (0:1) Goals: 0:1 (38') Shots (SOG): 4 (1) v 12 (5) xGD (xG - xG): -0.77 (0.76 - 1.53) comment: result consistent with run of play albeit run of play potentially influenced by different tactical imperatives (must-win game for USA; draw enough for Iran to advance) I score it: 1:215. Saudi Arabia (#51) v Mexico (#13): 1:2 (0:0) Goals: 1 (90+5): 2 (47', 52') Shots (SOG): 10 (2) v 26 (11) xGD (xG - xG): -0.77 (1.04 - 3.05) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 1:316. Australia (#38) v Denmark (#10): 1:0 (0:0) Goals: 1:0 (60') Shots (SOG): 8 (4) v 13 (3) xGD (xG - xG): -0.38 (0.44 - 0.82) comment: result justified overall even if a draw might have been reflective of the play I score it: 1:017. Japan (#24) v Spain (#7): 2:1 (0:1) Goals: (48', 51') (11') Shots (SOG): 6 (3) v 12 (5) xGD (xG - xG): -0.25 (0.95 - 1.20) comment: draw better reflective of the play I score it: 1:118. S. Korea (#28) v Portugal (N/A): 2:1 (1:1) Goals: 2 (27', 90+1): 1 (5') Shots (SOG): 13 (6) v 13 (6) xGD (xG - xG):+0.30 (1.65 - 1.35) comment: result justified overall even if against a weakened/clinched Portugal I score it: 2:1 R-16 19. Australia (#38) v Argentina (#3): 1:2 (0:1) Goals: (77'OG) (35', 57') Shots (SOG): 5 (1) v 14 (5) xGD (xG - xG): -0.48 (2.14 - 0.66) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 1:220. Japan (#24) v Croatia (#12): 1:1 (1:0) (1-3 pen) Goals: 1 (43'): 1 (55') Shots (SOG): 13 (4) v 17 (4) xGD (xG - xG): +0.38 (2.05 - 1.67) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 1:121. S. Korea (#28) v Brazil (#1): 1:4 (0:4) Goals: 1 (76'): 4 (7', 13'p, 29'. 36') Shots (SOG): 8(6) v 18 (9) xGD (xG - xG): +0.38 (2.05 - 1.67) comment: result consistent with run of play I score it: 2:5
Russia's current suspension was imposed by FIFA so switching to AFC would not enable Russia to circumvent it. I see no advantage to Russia from transferring from UEFA to AFC.
If most of the UEFA teams refuse to play against them, the money and strength of UEFA won't really matter. The move to AFC It's completely hypothetical for Russia in a situation where they can't play in UEFA competitions (Euros, NL, Champions League, etc.) Playing weaker competition is better than no competition at all.
Honestly I don't know if some of the east asian teams would be happy to see Russia in their confederation. Especially Japan, South Korea, and Australia. In my view I'm not against seeing the EAF and ASEAN merging with OFC to make their own confederation where they can write their own rules. Travel would not be an issue. Not only that but they wouldn't have to fight with the arab nations over certain issues. The only reason why the Arab nations make so much noise is due to the amount of money. East Asian nations have performed better in the Men's and Women's World Cup, U-20 World Cups, and Olympics. If that were to happen then this new confederation would probably get five spots since they could take the old spot that OFC used to have. It'll most likely be Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Vietnam, China, and Thailand battling out for those spots.
This is what I came up with if there was an Asian Pacific Nations Cup. Group A: Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong Group B: Australia, China, Philippines, Indonesia Group C: South Korea, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore
Even though Iran ended up having a credible tournament, it could have fielded a much better side and showed better than it did at the World Cup. A couple of players were left on the bench for their pro-regime views to appease those "fans' who used political litmus tests for who should play for Iran. One of them was Torabi, who should have started in some of our matches but was used as a substitute. Another one was Amiri who used to be fixed starter and who should have also alternated in our lineup to give us fresh legs. He was never used. More inexplicably: Our best CB by far (Kanani -- a fixed starter for Iran since 2019, including under Queiroz before the World Cup) was left on the bench for no good reason at all and no one knows why? Our other starting CB in the qualifiers, a friend and club teammate of Kanani, Shoja Khalilzadeh, didn't feature in any of our games either. Many expected he wouldn't even be invited because of his past troubled relationship with Queiroz but when he was invited for our friendly against Uruguay, I felt: vow, Queiroz is no longer the vindictive and petty character he used to be. But right before the World Cup, he began showing his colors by hinting he would cut Kanani and Khalilzadeh because their Qatari club wasn't releasing them for a camp for Iran's domestic/or non-European based players. Our federation chief had to personally intervene and convince the Qatari club to release them to avoid Queiroz cutting them. But to everyone's shock and dismay, those 2 were still left off of our starting lineup against against England -- and then everyone else we played. Against England, Queiroz also left our best d-mid from the starting 11, probably because his father is one of the top officials in our federation and Ezatolahi (regardless of his personal views) presumably wouldn't feel comfortable joining the "team decision" to avoid singing the national anthem before the England match. Anyway, this World Cup was much less than it could or should have been for Iran. But I'm still proud of the effort the players put despite all the push and pull on them from different directions. The first Word Cup where, not a very small, miniscule, minority led by the usual suspect but a sizable minority of the fans were not supporting their own team or players. That was and remains the saddest part of the World Cup for me.