This is going to be a good game for sure. Hope both teams take this seriously and play a good match. Also wanted to say, let's not be troll idiots and bash Japan or Iran regardless of who you want to win or who wins. To be honest the top asian teams need all the help they can get in prep for WC and not one team is that much better than the other. Yeah KOrea lost to Maldives, and VIetnam. Yeah, Iran didn't make WC last time around. Yeah Japan has been consistent... consistently mediocre. Yeah SA embarrassed themselves in last WC. Big whoop. In my opinion, Korea, Japan, Iran, SA(in their recent form) should play each other as often as possible instead of playing less developed teams in Asia. Especially in prep for WC.
We Have to play seriously. we need tie or win just for showing our ability. especially after Confedration cup nad japan tie with brazil. iran is the best team in Asia.
Youre right but Branko would rather test his youngters than go for a win. Borhani, Mobali, Navidkia etc having had a full game for a while, needs to keep them interested. Not to mention Nikki who hasnt had a full game sine Zandi's arival! (then again zandis only played 90 minutes once! )
I would have to say that Iran and Japan are tied for the best in Asia right now. Although Iran beat japan in March....Japan put up a very good fight and they are a pretty organized team. However, Iran is also a good team that has great offensive ability and as of late...great defensive ability as well. Iran is also starting to become a more organized team and has great individual talent (I'm pretty sure the best individual talent in Asia). I have to say that Iran and Japan are equally good and the best in Asia.
I really believe that Iran (and for that matter, both teams I suppose) should go for a win in August. Here are some of my reasons: 1- By defeating Japan, we will finish not only on top of our group, but also with the best record in Asia. 2- If we do claim (rightfully so, IMO) that we are the best in Asia, we will have to beat Japan at their home. If that is not the proof, I do not know what is. 3- FIFA ranking (as inaccurate as it is), is still used to group different teams in the WC Finals. A win by Team Melli in Japan, will assure us higher ranking by December time, when the Finals' draw takes place. This may help put us in a 3rd pot of teams versus 4th pot.
No pots for the WC... just seeds (A), the other slots are via confederations, so it makes no difference.
You can see the current seeding predictions and the formula in this thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199199
I guess I really meant to say "seeds", thanks for the correction. But as far as saying that the ranking makes no difference, the link provided above contradicts that. The ranking DOES matter, but after looking at the formula, it is clear that it is only part of the overall equation. Since IRAN was not able to attend the WC'02, it is very important to get as high seeding as it can and defeating Japan helps.
December is when they do the draw for the world cup?? Are you sure about that? I thought that would be too early. Well that would be great though if it is going to be as soon as december.
It's December in Leipzig (I don't know the exact date). They'll be done with all the regional qualifiers and inter-confederation playoffs by then. In any case, the match in August won't have an effect on the seeding since there's no realistic chance of either team ending up as a seeded team.
I am almost certain that the "final draw" date is December 9th; perhaps someone could confirm this. I have a feeling that we will be in a group with Brazil, Nigeria and a tier-2 European team (Slovakia or Greece). This would be a good draw for Iran, IMO.
Japan will probably win the match, after all they have prepared very well, they tied brazil and beat Greece which has taken their level of confidence very high therefore i see a higher chance for them of winning the game that I see for Iran! Doesn't matter much though...both have qualified and we should probably witness a very slow and boring game
No, I don't think so. Although Japan tied with Brazil, Japan still have less talents and skill than Iranian players.
this is just my opinion but if ANY team is in a same group with Brazil and Nigeria, I wouldn't call it a good draw. doesn't matter if it's Iran or Argentina. because we all know what kind of damage Brazil can do, and Nigeria? call me crazy, but I truly think that they are just one good coach away from being a serious contender.
A good draw would be Mexico as the seeded team plus a medicore European team as well as a medicore African team.
Hi everyone! first, I think we need to beat Japan. We just haven't done enough of that lately, and it would rightfully justify our first place in Asia after we beat them in their back yard. second, this would be ideal table for Iran: Iran 3rd or 4th place team from CONCACAF or at worst Mexico (USA is easier for us than Mexico) Paraguay or Uruguay Turky we will definitely make the second round if something like this is our group. In a group like that 4 points may be enough to get thru.
If we r as good as we say we are, then we can advance out of any group, except if we;re in the group of death of course!