World Cup 2014 Qual. - Intercontintental Play-Off (Jordan vs 5th place CONMEBOL) [R]

Venezuela could also sneak in. They'd need a big win against Paraguay (already eliminated) and that either Ecuador or Uruguay lose their next two games by a lot of goals.

Colombia could also drop to 5th place, but the sequence of results it would take for that to happen is a bit too far-fetched.

 

lets just hide this thread so asia does not get embarrassed lol. i think this is the first time a non- powerhouse asian team is playing in intercontinental playoffs against a team from a strong confederation (not oceania or north america).

 

From the times I have seen Jordan play, they appeared decent at home but I don't think they travel well. In any case, they will definitely have a tough time against whoever finishes 5th in Conembol. They might even get embarrassed away from home, although I expect them to be able to play a decent game at home and may even get a draw there. Still, regardless of the results in the short run, Asian football needs more opportunities for its next best teams to play meaningful games against decent opposition. Frankly, I like these kind of intercontinental playoffs and I like to see more such games for improving the quality of Asian football.

In the meantime, Jordan needs to arrange a couple of decent friendlies between now and November. At least one game away from home, either in Mexico, in Panama or Honduras or Bolivia or Paraguay.

 

I don't think JAPAN could defeat the 5th place SA team...never mind Jordan! I will be SHOCKED if Jordan qualifies for the WC.

Were you Simply Ken on an IFP board by Gorbi?

 

What should Jordan do now? Altitude training, perhaps. Increase their lung capacity, play a couple of friendles at high altitude, stop being a bunch of pussies and give it all in the first leg. I'm sure they'll be properly fired up for the 2nd leg, that home crowd will take care of that.

 

I would say it's 50/50 or 55/45 in favor of Japan.

 

Anything can happen.

Jordan can pull off what Australia did in 2006.

 

I can't see how they can beat a South American team, when they couldn't even beat Iraq on a neutral venue. I didn't see anything special throughout the whole qualifiers from them.

 

TBH, I don't think Japan would come close and are one of those teams that flatter to deceive, drastically overrated because they play pretty football. They couldn't even beat the worst Aussie team in 30 years and lost to a Mexican side in a world of pain. They concede far too many soft goals, which is always fatal in a 2-leg scenario. I don't think people appreciate how much Japan miss Nakazawa, or even Tulio to a lesser extent. They gave Japan much needed toughness, while the current team is too soft as shown at the Confed Cup.

I actually think Iran would be the most likely Asian team to beat a South American team over 2 legs at the moment. Their style of play suits this scenario perfectly - park the bus to limit the damage away (for a 1 goal loss), while hoping to do enough at home.

But the South Americans would still be clear favourites, make no mistake.

 

Which Asian teams "could" beat S.America's 5th team in a home/away format is a different question which Asian teams would be likely to do so. Despite the comments here, even Jordan can end up beating S.America's 5th team. But is it likely? No, not all. I expect Jordan to lose something like 4:0 away and perhaps draw 1:1 a home.

As for Japan, they have weaknesses and might be weaker than before, but depending who ends up 5th in S.America, Japan would have around a 50/50 chance against them. Or even slightly better. S.Korea's chances would be similar and I would say the same for Australia, despite the whipping they received from Brazil.

As for Iran, I honestly don't know? Until I see this version of Iran against decent opposition, it will be hard for me to forecast how we would do. Certainly, it would not be too far from a toss up. Iran would always have a decent chance to win but the issue is how one would rate Iran's chances: 50/50? 40-60? or 55-45? It would IMO be in this kind of range. At the moment, if Iran was going to the playoffs instead, I would have rated our chances as around 40-60. My guess would be that Iran would lose something like 2:0 away and win 1:0 at home (or draw 0:0 at home), but it would not shock me if we won 1:0 at home and got away with a draw away.

 

In the first leg Australia was lucky to tie Japan thanks to an undeserved penalty kick. In the second leg Australia just parked a bus in their own box and hoped for the best. The final score should have been 2-0 or 3-0 if Japan had converted their chances.

As for the Mexico game, I wouldn't put too much stock in the result. Japan played that match already eliminated. They rested their usual backline (Uchida and Yoshida) and captain Hasebe.

There is no way Iran will have a better chance than Japan. It's pretty obvious when you compare the squad Japan have now to Iran's. Japan have many successful players in the top Euro leagues and Iran have none maybe with the exception of Dejagah. For example, Japan's usual full backs (Uchida, Nagatomo) are starters for Schalke and Inter Milan but their two reserve FBs (G Sakai, H Sakai) also start every week in Bundesliga. Iran's defense was OK during the qualifier but they haven't faced stronger non-AFC teams yet.

As I said before on another thread, the current Japan team is the best they have ever had. Under Zaccheroni, Japan beat Argentina and France and totally outplayed Italy. Other AFC teams will struggle if they face these world beaters. They have a defensive issue but it seemed to improve in the Ghana game because of high pressing, something which they have lacked.

 

Unfortunately Jordan needs some miracle. But they will have their own World Cup by playing against a South American team. Good luck and just enjoy the match!

 

I can smell another 0-8 by Arabs.

 

feel sorry for Jordan considering Bahrain faced New Zealand in the 2010 intercontinental play-off.

 

AFC's spots were reduced to 4.0. It's not very fair...In the last edition, AFC had 2 teams that made it to the round of 16 on non-Asian soil for the first time.

 

Only Ecuador has altitude though. Altitude training to play Uruguay, Chile or Venezuela at sea level would be pointless.

 

I have not followed Japan closely enough lately to rate them with any confidence. But I am more or less familiar with Japan's results. In that regard, you have highlighted the ones that are indeed impressive. But Japan has also had less flattering results, including losing all 3 of its matches in the Confederation Cup. While its true that Japan won a lot of praise for its performance against Italy in that tournament, losing to a Mexico side that is going through a severe slump is not impressive. Nor was Japan losing to Jordan in the World Cup qualifiers, even if Japan had drilled Jordan 6:0 at home. Similarly, losing 2:0 to Bulgaria at home must have also raised concerns which would not have been allayed by the 2:4 loss to Uruguay earlierthis year. To be fair, however, Japan has won its last two games: 3:0 against Guatemala and 3:1 against Ghana. But then again, both those games were at home, in friendlies and might not be all that telling.

In a sense, I guess, with Japan and its results, its the story of the cup half full and half empty. Depending which part of the cup you want to talk about, Japan can look like world beaters or they could look rather mediocre.

All that said, however, Japan are better than Iran right now. I agree. But I am not sure being as emphatic about it as you were sounded the right tone either.

 

Japan had a disallowed goal in the first half of the Mexico game. If the goal was allowed, the result could well have been different.

 

I wish they made play offs fixed: OFC vs AFC and CONCACAF vs COMENBOL. Cheaper and faster. The only way I see Jordan going through is if they planted a mountain of steroids in the SA locker room or play a suspended or underage player like Cape Verde and get disqualified.

 

Japan seem a bit inconsistent. On one day, they can beat powerhouses like Argentina and France, but on another day, they can lose to minnows like Jordan. But I think if things go well, a QF appearance won't be a surprise. Never seen the Italians so overpowered. They have some world class players and Bundesliga is flooded with Japanese players.

 

This thread is about Jordan vs 5th place S. American team. Let's stick to the original topic.

 

Asia still has 4.5 spots, much like the last cycle. I'm not sure Jordan can hang with the likes of Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay or perhaps Venezuela. Still this is WCQ. Anything can happen. From what I hear, Uzbekistan had a better, more creative team than Jordan. Yet, it's Jordan, not Uzbekistan, that's still alive in this WCQ cycle.

 

CONCACAF or OFC would've been better for Asia. South America is simply too hard for us. It's their style of play what is so hard.

I give Jordan about 10% chance, but maybe they can do it.

 

The play-offs rotate:

2006 - C-BOL vs. OFC; AFC vs. C-CAF

2010 - AFC vs. OFC; C-CAF vs. C-BOL

2014 - C-BOL vs. AFC; C-CAF vs. OFC

2018 - as in 2006.

So this is the worst rotation for Asia, and for the next World Cup it'll be some Central American team, or Mexico if they continue sucking.