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Two well done victories from Japan and South Korea, but it’s still early on, home matches and both teams haven’t faced the toughest teams in their group yet. I can see both going 6-0-0 or 5-1-0 at least by the end of this round, and with nine teams at most qualifying from the Asian continent, these two are certainly part of that pack with the style of play, players, and consistency they have.
Australia with a 7-0 win is also an honourable mention, same case as the two mentioned above, but still, Graham Arnold has turned things around since a near-failure to qualify for the last World Cup. Losing to the eventual world champions is not a failure, and their results now show that the team definitely took a lot from the tournament in Qatar that they are positively using moving forward.
Only 7 goals…Socceroos are so shit
With Iraq finally playing again in their home soil, which are the teams that still have to play their home matches in neutral ground?
Syria, Yemen, Palestine and Afghanistan?
Lebanon too i think
Yeah you’re right
Another unfortunate day to be a Filipino Football fan
I totally want to pull a Michael Fassbender with the Philippines…
It’s surprising to me that Myanmar are actually playing considering they’re literally going through a fresh new civil war rn
Afghanistan has a government that no country recognizes, Afghanistan is playing too.
Yeah but they’re not at war anymore. disorganised as fuck and I’m pretty sure there’s still a few rebels training to assassinate taliban members, but they’re not having large scale day to day warfare. Also other countries don’t technically recognise the taliban government but they’re still trading with them
Palestine are playing too
At least Nepal didn’t lose the game by highest margin this round 😢
I can’t believe I’m saying this but that 4-0 to Saudi really flatters them.
Two extra time goals too, so 0:2 before 90th minute is even crazier
Honestly 4-0 is pretty good, was expecting like a 9-0 or 10-0 thumping lmao, pretty sure there’s like a 130-140 places difference in the Fifa rankings
My predictions for Round 3 (teams that might qualify - I haven’t seen the group so sorry if I predicated 3 teams from the same group)
- Australia
- Japan
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- Qatar
- China
- India
- Kuwait
- Oman
- Malaysia
- UAE
- Iran
- Iraq
- Bahrain
- Vietnam
- Uzbekistan
- Chinese Taipei
- Syria
Teams which qualify for FIFA26
- Australia
- South Korea
- Japan
- Saudi
- Oman
- Any of the countries which start with I ( India, Iraq, Iran)
What do you ppl think
I’d say
- Japan
- SK
- AU
- Iran
- Saudi
- Qatar
I’m just happy Pakistan made it to the second round
I’m really just hoping that put up a good fight in all their games and can score a couple goals. Don’t care if it means they finish dead last. This is already more than I expected to see in my lifetime lol
Considering India is grouped with Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria in the Asian Cup, the results of Uzbekistan and Syria in their matches here are not as good as I was expecting them to be. Obviously not reflective of the entire picture, but slightly encouraging signs for us against those 2.
Australia though on the other hand… 👀
I see Thailand lost at home to China. Is China considered a better team than Thailand?
As a Thai, we had hopes for this game but still China is better on paper and also in game. If we don’t get results away at China then we’re fucked.
Polking, Ishii or Park Hang-seo?
Lmao, as if we’re going to beat china away when a clown and an insurance seller is running the team
What’s the perception of Lamsam in Thailand?
Not very good right now, she buys in to the whole superstition/luck thing. Before the china match she took the whole team to see a famous monk(the one that blesses leicster) which took valuable training time. She also designates 2 captains because of similar reasons. Funny thing is that a few days ago, her team plays a league game and she refuses to shake hands with the opposition manager stating the luck thing. Her team lost 2-0.
She’s an ancient dinosaur who obsess with black magic and nepotism.
Somehow they are are 2nd in but I went to the game vs Bangkok United.
Port FC’s strategy consists of have the fullbacks cross the ball in and hope. No players that can dribble to create space for a good cross though so who the hell knows how they are second.
China got 2 goal with 3 shot on target 😆
Just by a little but yeah.
For the last world cup qualifiers, China went to the last round and Thailand was out the round before.
And four years ago at the Asian Cup, China already beat Thailand in the round of 16 before losing to Iran
Syria beating North Korea seems like a bit of a shock
Syria got to the playoff last time against Australia (meaning from that qualification they were the sixth best team in Asia) while north Korea as far as I’m aware have been inactive for years.
Not really, North Korea is 115th in the FIFA rankings and haven’t played any matches for 4 years between 2019 and 2023.
They’re not even vaguely close to the NK you may imagine when thinking of when they qualified for the WC over a decade ago.
Syria have Al Somah, who albeit being 34 now was probably the best player in Asia in his prime.
Never heard of him tbh lol
Third all time top scorer in the Saudi League, one of the best leagues in Asia. Was banned from playing for Syria for political reasons until the last 2 matchdays of WCQ for the 2018 World Cup.
First game against Qatar he doesn’t score. Second game against Iran, the best team in Asia he scores a 90th + minute equaliser to send Syria to the playoffs.
In the playoffs Syria now have a genuine superstar against Australia.
First leg Australia 1-1 Syria, Al Somah penalty.
Second leg, Syria take the lead, guess who? Al Somah.
Australia then score 2, including one in extra time.
Syria gets a free kick in the 120th minute, Al Somah takes if Syria score then Syria win the playoff ok away goals.
https://youtu.be/pa43e0YutIQ?si=O1PMH_6uqQAUpFPl
Probably the most heartbreaking football moment ever for me, and I’m not even Syrian lol.
He’s 34 now, and did score against North Korea in that game
Our players can’t fuck up this group now. Just don’t lose to Kuwait at home and don’t lose to afghanistan
So if we manage that, what’s next? We would have to face next set of qualifiers, or would we qualify for the world cup after this?
I was shocked by the difference between the physicality of the Aussies and our players. Not even talking about the quality of the players. It was like a bunch of 5 footers playing against 7 footers. Reminded me how important physicality is in this game.
Physicality is a really big issue lacking for south asian teams. Idk if it’s just genetics or their lifestyle but unless they solve this issue, they can only dream of playing in the world cup
It’s genetics, even a couple of decades ago malnutrition was a big issue here. The average height for men in Bangladesh is 5 feet 5/6 inches, that’s just too low for football.
It’s genetics, even a couple of decades ago malnutrition was a big issue here
So is it genetics or is it malnutrition?