31 March 2015
FIFA World Cup draw on April 14
Seedings for 2018 FIFA World Cup draw on April 14
BASED ON UPCOMING FIFA RANKINGS FOR APRIL
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, China PR, Iraq
Pot 2: Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Vietnam, Kuwait, Syria
Pot 3: Afghanistan, Thailand, Philippines, Palestine, Maldives, Tajikistan, Lebanon, India
Pot 4: Timor-Leste, Kyrgyzstan, Korea DPR, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Bhutan, Singapore, Indonesia
Pot 5: Malaysia, Guam, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Yemen, Laos, Chinese Taipei, Cambodia
8 groups of 5.
First matches on June 11
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Syria and Afghanistan are not confirmed yet. Both teams have friendlies tonight and it will decide. Syria does have way bigger chance to get in pot 2 though.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, since now it's confirmed that we are in pot 3, i'd like to share my view of our possible opponents from each pot.
- Pot1 : You may want to avoid top 4 teams, namely Iran, Japan, South Korea and Australia. But think about it differently. We will have extremely slim chance against any teams from this pot anyway, and therefore realistically our goal should be no.2 in our group to advance to the next round. Then strategically speaking it can be better to have a stronger team from pot 1 who can win it all, not only against us. Plus, WC qualifier is a rare chance to meet AFC's highest profile teams so why don't we be a man. So i'd say, give us the best team from this pot.
- Pot2 : Every teams will pray for Vietnam, and the next wish will be Syria. If we're not that lucky, the rest 6 teams i think are pretty much similar level so it's hard to pick who to avoid. By the looks of current forms, Saudi Arabia and Qatar may be slightly stronger, but anyway whoever we pick from this pot will be our ultimate enemy of this campaign. Of course it will be tough, tougher than winning Suzuki Cup, to beat any of these 6 teams but i don't say "impossible" either. I believe we do have a chance if we can get all our players together and the anticipated new recruits actually join us. And then again, pray for Vietnam.
- Pot4 : The most obvious answers both on who to pick and who to avoid in this pot. Give us Bhutan, please no North Korea. How the fuck did NK end up here? Well, however, basically there is no team in this pot that we can't beat even including NK who have recently been significantly weakened. But important thing is that we DEFINITELY have to beat whomever we pick from this pot in BOTH home and away legs. Even away draw can be fatal because it's not only that we have to fight for no.2 in our group but also we should finish with the best possible records to be one of top 4 of 8 group runners-up to get next round ticket. Therefore, we need the weakest possible team from this pot. NK, Singapore and Indonesia are not the case for sure, and Myanmar or Turkmenistan can be risty too. So let's wish for Bhutan, Timor Leste or at least Kyrgyzstan.
- Pot5 : The same logic. The weaker the better. Malaysia or Yemen will be a curse here, plus Hong Kong will be risky too. As long as we avoid these three, whoever will be fine enough to give us 6 points.
Afghanistan's game against Kyrgyztan has been cancelled because of bad weather, so it remains in Pot 3 and while Syria goes to Pot 2.
Deletewhy always avoid its our chance to face strong teams
Delete@10:43
DeleteIf you advance to the next round, you can face strong teams until you get fed up.
I believe groupings will go like this
DeleteGroup A
Pot 1
Pot 2
Pot 3
Pot 4
Pot 5
And so on for Group B onwards
Since Philippines is in Pot 3 it's highly unlikely in the 2nd Round that we'll face fellow Final 4 Challenge Cup teams (Maldives Afghanistan Palestine) or our AFF Cup tormentors Thailand or anybody else in Pot 3
expect a 'balanced' group based on FIFA rankings (FIFA rankings themselves doesn't determine any national team's true strength)
2 April 2015 at 16:22
Deleteyou're right