I know there is pride but I doubt Argentina or Brazil could lose their top seed ranking. Brazil would have to lose A LOT of games. With the 3 hosts they would have to be at least top 9.
Since the world cup format has changed and FIFA hasn't announced anything about it other than the number of groups, we can't even be sure if being 1st or 9th is the same.
Doesn't really make sense for NTs to rest players. What are they resting them for? To benefit the clubs they play for? If you're a NT manager and its Autumn 2025 you are going to start having a pretty good idea who you want to bring to WC 2026. So of course you're going to want to see those players as much as possible in the last 3-4 FIFA windows before the WC, whether you're playing matches that are meaningful or not.
South Korea 1 - 1 Thailand Korea attacked Thailand like mad when Thailand got the equaliser, great defending and goalkeeping kept it at 1-1, a historic result for Thailand which sets up a great match between Thailand and China on 6th June, but the return match between Thailand and South Korea on Tuesday in Bangkok will be thrilling, I am sure. Of all the groups, this is the tightest, with Thailand and China vying for the second place spot. Fourth Round isn't until October 2025 next year. Thailand have finally became a strong team in Asia, which is very exciting.
Impressive result by Thailand. Drawing away against South Korea is impressive. Meanwhile South Korea continues with shaky results and performances. Thailand really messed up by loosing at home against China. Unless they win at home against South Korea, they have to win away against China to qualify for the next round. One bad result Can really mess things up for certain teams at this stage
Singapore 2 - 2 China Thailand edge into 2nd place with 4 points, +3 goal difference. Man, AFC don't use VAR much, do they? Many fouls didn't get VAR checks in the Korea and China games today, in UEFA there would have been loads of VAR checks today!
Singapore just saved Thailands ass. Now their is a chance that they may only need a draw away against china to advance. It is going to be very exiting
I reckon that Thailand will beat China in June. Thailand seem to finally have found the right balance of speed, skill and courage. It was courage that they lacked all these years and China still lacks courage. Singapore play well these days, much more aggressive and they have a bit of skill, did well to get those two goals today. Iran will get through, but Uzbekistan have vastly improved in the past few years at all U20, etc. levels and now the senior team looks solid enough. Not going to be easy for Asian, African and European teams to get to 2026. Nigeria v South Africa in June will be a great match... Africa Group C table and fixtures It would be great to see Rwanda in the World Cup.
Yes its going to be difficult for many teams. I hope Thailand goes through to next round. It Would be Nice to see more improved teams in South East Asia. Thailand has improved and Vietnam had a couple of good years. Hope one of Them Can Challenge for a spot at the World Cup.
I want China to be at every World Cup from now as they are the world's largest country, football has became bigger in China this century, they produce very good players, just not great clubs or a national team as of yet. They are going to host a World Cup in 2046 or 2050, so they need to be a regular at the World Cup. But Thailand, Uzbekistan are now tough to beat and China need to emphatically earn their place at World Cups, I feel, not just show up and play poorly. Asian nations should be glad that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan don't also play in AFC, they would make things even harder. Qarabag, Astana, Tobol are excellent clubs these days. Qarabag (Azerbaijan) almost beat Bayer Leverkusen over two amazing Europa League matches recently. Players from that part of the world are proving to be excellent. Football has radically improved pretty much everywhere in the past five years.
For those interested in Surinam A Dutch article (usegoogle translate) about the ambitions. https://www.volkskrant.nl/sport/sur...is-het-niet-vandaag-dan-toch-morgen~b6eaadad/ Suriname plaatst zich voor het WK, is het niet vandaag, dan toch morgen? Surinam will qualify for the WC, isnot it today, than it might be tomorrow?
Going to Suriname in a couple of weeks so maybe can pick up a jersey or two... not surprised if they can nationalize some players of Dutch heritage, they can probably have a chance eventually.
Thailand v South Korea is about to kick off. Here's a live-stream from Thai TV. They played last week, it was a 1-1 draw, a historic result for Thailand. Can Thailand make it to the World Cup at the expense of China?
It's working for me. Maybe your ad-blocker or something is blocking it. This is the site I got it from, there's only two links available: https://reddit3.sportshub.fan/event/thаіlаnd_thа_sоuth_kоrеа_kоr_198198255 This site also has links, but the server seems to be going down: https://hes-goals.io
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Probably neither of these teams will qualify, but it would be quite a sad state of affairs if China fail to advance from this round. Important for Thailand to maintain the advantage on the goal difference today even if, as is expected, they lose and China win. That way a draw against China in June would be enough to put Thailand in good shape to advance. Unfortunately, China scored 2 late goals to take a 4-1lead.
This is the new qualifying format for Asia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(AFC)#Third_round 8 AFC teams go through directly and 1 team goes into the inter-confederation playoffs. It depends how the draws come out. I'd just love to see Uzbekistan and Thailand make it, as they have exciting styles of play, China simply don't, but their presence at the World Cup would be good for Chinese football.
I had Big hopes for Vietnam, as they have been good for some years. But it seems like their time is over for now. They lost twice against Vietnam now, so it probably wont even make it to the next round, which is a Big Big disappointment. And they also had a disappointing asian Cup, even though they werent bad against Japan and Iraq. I really thought they where better than this. Such a shame. Lets see what Indonesia Can do in the next round. They have alot of players who were born in Europe, specially the Netherlands. Another reason I liked Vietnam was, that all their players were born and raised in Vietnam. Unlike many other South East Asian teams, who have some nationalized players
Normally, I don't pay much attention to Concacaf qualifiers until the end of them, as it's a given that Mexico and USA will qualify (2018 excluded!) but they and Canada are not in this, it makes for a whole new dynamic. There's bound to be strange matches, strange results, with the pressure on, the chances of getting to a close-to-home World Cup will psych-up these nations BIG TIME.