Going into the third round teams will be divided into 5 groups with Australia, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea heading a group each. Where would you like China to be drawn into? I would prefer Saudi Arabia because China NT has quite a decent record playing against Saudi Arabia in WC qualifiers. The results from past qualifiers so far: 1982 : China 4 SA 2; China 2 SA 0 (Both played in KL). 1990 : China 2 SA 1 (Singapore). 1998 : China 1 SA 0 (Home); China 1 SA 1 (Away). On the other hand I hope the draw will not put China and Indonesia in the same group because crowd violence is very common in Indonesia. With due respect it would be good to have North Korea in the same group because China seems to be able to play quite well against N. Korea.
Indonesia was eliminated by Syria in round 2 while North Korea and China are both in Pot 2 so they won't be drawn into a same group. According to the AFC seeding, the 4 pots contain following teams: Pot 1 Australia, Korea Rep, Iran, Saudi Arabia & Japan Pot 2 North Korea, Uzbekistan, China PR, Bahrain, Kuwait Pot 3 Jordan, Iraq, Oman, Lebanon, UAE Pot 4 Qatar, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Singapore, Syria So maybe a good drawing for China is Saudi, China, Lebanon, Thailand. And the worst is any of Australia/Korea/Iran/Japan, China, Iraq, Qatar.
hopefully: A: Saudi Arabia (as mentioned before, we have a better chance in winning this team) C: Lebanon (one of the weakest) D: Turkmenistan/Thailand (Turks doesn't seem to be as good as Asian 2004 anymore)
Can we really rely on past results, moreso can we rely on 10+ year old results? To me SA are as good as any team in Pot 1. But as i support east asian teams abit more i´d rather not see us meet with Korea or Japan as i would want us all to make it to WC2010
I want Korea in our group because: - they're no longer good, or at least as good as they used to be. The prostitution fiasco with LDG, and their captain LWJ meant that they are likely to be kicked out of their NT. Although they still have Prem players PJS and LYP, they're still a very beatable team. - we have a chance of beating them and end their undefeated streak against us.
You will be surprised how coaches, players and sports writers always refer to past results for predicting future results. I am puzzled too because after more than ten years there is usually a team of new players, who should not be weighed down psychologically by the failure of their predecessors. But it seems to matter not just in soccer but in other sports as well.
Don't underestimate Thailand. They have some very tough and aggressive players. Like the Koreans they also have 'never say die' attitude. Maybe Singapore would be a better option. (HeHeHe) Just joking. Actually I prefer Turkmenistan. But I wonder why Qatar is in Pot 4. It would be the group of death if China and Qatar are in the same group. In my opinion such a format of 4 teams in a group with the top two teams advancing is rather tough. You will need something like 10 points (3 wins, 1 draw) to avoid relying on goal difference or goal average.
I think Thailand has tough mentality but unfortunately they are physically too small and weak to match against us. Our height advantage alone will kill them, especially on set pieces.
Yea they mention that kind of stuff all the time here in Sweden, wether it´s National or Club level, they always refer to old results (For what reason I´ll never understand), because everyday is a new day right? But somehow past results tends to affect the teams in question quite strongly.
You rely on old results b/c that is the only thing you have. And also, if you look at national team levels, they don't really change that much over time. I mean Brazil is still good and China still sucks. If you look at the old results, you can most likely tell how things will go in the future. You might have a few stars now and then but that doesn't change the whole team so looking at old results is still useful.
2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) Third Round http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminarydraw/index.html
Don't be disappointed. We still have chance. Even if we get an easier group, we will face strong teams in the final stage too.
In my opinion, all the four teams do not have full confedence to advance. Maybe Australia has a higher chance. The other 3 are quite even.
Yes. And I think China itself is also the best team in Pot 2. Now every game of Group 1 is very interesting!
I wanna know whether all matches are on the international match days? We need players like Zheng Zhi and Sun Jihai to defeat these strong teams!
It will be funny if Australia gets eliminates and New Zealand qualifies by beating the last AFC qualifiers which is possible.
iraq - i feel gloomier because iraq is developing well, asian 2007 champions too australia - always have some strong qualities qatar - some mysterious team that always have some lucky fluke chance to win big team i got bad feeling that china won't progress well