Majeed Panahi of TMDC- TEHRAN, The eight football associations that have clinched their berth in the next round of World Cup 2006 qualification; have officially received the match’s dates for the 2nd round, ahead of the December 9th draw in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia. Team Melli will be seeded in pot B along with Saudi Arabia, While Pot A will be occupied by Japan & South Korea, Pot C will consist of Bahrain & Uzbekistan while Pot D will have Kuwait and North Korea. The schedule indicates that Iran will play their either Uzbekistan or Bahrain away in the first match on Feb. 9th 2005 , followed by a home game against the top teams, South Korea or Japan on 25th March, immediately after that and with a 5 days break , they will be meeting the lowest ranked teams (Pot D) Kuwait or North Korea at Azadi on 30th March. A longish break will be the order of the day before Team Melli returns to action on June 3rd with an away game to the Pot D team , followed by a 5 day break where Iran has to fly back and gather forces again to meet a Pot C team in Azadi. The final match and after a two month break, will be against the top seeded team away in the Far East. The spread of the matches seems to be reasonable, however the two matches that will be played within 5 days of each other, similar to the European qualification systems, seems to be harsh for the Asian teams. In Europe , the size of the continent and logistics is not a factor when considering fatigue, while the situation in the quite different in the biggest continent on Earth. Flying from Tehran to Seoul or Tokyo or vice versa, can last anything between 13 to 18 hours depending on the routing and the flight arrangement. This is quite tough for any team. The wisdom of FIFA and AFC in this arrangement is open to questions, considering the ample time that the Asian teams have for completing the schedule matches. FIFA/AFC reasoning for the short 2 breaks is i. Minimum disruption to of the various local leagues and ii. Completion of the schedule, including the play-offs before the end of 2005. Notwithstanding the extreme summer temperatures in the Persian Gulf with 2 possible opponents for Team Melli (Kuwait & Bahrain) those 2 short breaks in the matches, seems to be the most demanding for Iran. Fatigue could be a factor, while soaring heat in summer, could be a difficult test for Team Melli if it has to play in Bahrain in June where the average temperature for June is approximately 40 degrees Celsius, with a high relative humidity. Uzbekistan has a much cooler weather, not very different from Iran’s climate. As for the ideal points gathering scenarios, Team Melli must attempt to win the first game away from home against the relatively weaker Pot C teams. Full points from the first encounter will nicely prepare them for the next encounter at home against the toughest opponents Japan or South Korea in Azadi. Another win in this match, will go along way in automatic qualification for Iran and boost their confidence immensely by the time they meet the weakest of their opponents in the third round again at home. So, the perfect scenario for Team Melli is to get the full 9 points in the initial 3 rounds, while a 7 point credit is also considered to be a good cushion for the tough and deciding return matches. The most difficult part of the campaign will be round 4 & 5 especially if North Korea is drawn in Iran’s group. A tough trip to North Korea in round 4 will be followed by a match at home in round 5 in five days time period. The time zone & travel situation will be much more comfortable if Kuwait is drawn in the group instead of North Korea. 4 point from these two rounds would be enough for Iran to qualify for the World Cup in Germany as the last match will only be expected to be a formality and for the sole purpose of deciding which team will be heading the group. Both 1st and 2nd ranked team qualify to Germany automatically. The 3rd rank team has to play-off the 3rd ranked of the other group for a chance to meet CONCOCAF team for another set of play-off matches. It is evident on paper that the qualification is not going to be an arduous task for Iran , which has been one of the best teams in Asia in 2004. The negative scenarios always revolves around the bleeding of points at home , something that Iran paid for highly in the last World Cup campaign.