World Cup 2018... TM Qualifying Schedule Announced

[Bi-honar]

کنفدراسیون فوتبال از تاریخ برگزاری مسابقات تیم ملی ایران در مرحله مقدماتی جام جهانی 2018 روسیه و انتخابی جام ملت های 2019 آسیا خبر داد.




تاریخ مرحله دوم گروهی (روزهای فیفا):


روز اول : 11 ژوئن 2015 - 21 خرداد 94

[Bi-honar]

Full Schedule...

TM to enter in 2nd round... Draw for that round to be held April 11th, 2015.

Second round: The 40 teams will be divided into eight groups of five to play home-and-away round-robin matches, where the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up will advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup qualification as well as qualify for the AFC Asian Cup finals.

Third round: The 12 teams (an increase from 10 for 2014) will be divided into two groups of six to play home-and-away round-robin matches. Dependent on the number of qualifiers from the AFC, the top two teams of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third placed teams will advance to the fourth round.

First round First leg	12 March 2015
Second leg	17 March 2015
Second round Matchday 1	11 June 2015
Matchday 2	16 June 2015
Matchday 3	3 September 2015
Matchday 4	8 September 2015
Matchday 5	8 October 2015
Matchday 6	13 October 2015
Matchday 7	12 November 2015
Matchday 8	17 November 2015
Matchday 9	24 March 2016
Matchday 10	29 March 2016

Third round Matchday 1	1 September 2016
Matchday 2	6 September 2016
Matchday 3	6 October 2016
Matchday 4	11 October 2016
Matchday 5	15 November 2016
Matchday 6	23 March 2017
Matchday 7	28 March 2017
Matchday 8	13 June 2017
Matchday 9	31 August 2017
Matchday 10	5 September 2017
Fourth round First leg	5 October 2017
Second leg	10 October 2017

[Kiarash]

Six teams in each of two groups during the final round? AFC just gave Iran more chance to qualify for a World Cup. Six teams means there will be two punch bags, probably Thailand or Vietnam or something..guaranteed 12 points for almost every team. This should make the road to Russia much easier.

Something like this could be our group:

Top teams:
1.Iran
2.Japan

Decent teams:
3.Iraq
4.Jordan

Soorakh teams:
5.Thailand
6.Vietnam

If you win home and away against both Thailand and Vietnam you have 12 points. You will only need one more victory and a draw to qualify for the World Cup since 16 points were enough in WCQ 2014. Win versus Jordan and draw vs Iraq, you're qualified to Russia.

[PSGman#19]

Six teams in each of two groups during the final round? AFC just gave Iran more chance to qualify for a World Cup. Six teams means there will be one punch bag, probably Thailand or Vietnam or something..guaranteed 6 points for almost every team. This should make the road to Russia much easier.

Something like this could be our group:

Top teams:
1.Iran
2.Japan

Decent teams:
3.Iraq
4.Jordan

Soorakh teams:
5.Thailand
6.Lebanon

That's what we said about Lebanon but we still lost there.

6 teams will.make this more difficult, specially as we always have difficulties with weak teams.and without speaking about arab teams against us.

It is statistic : 2 out of 5 leaves out with more chances than 2 out of 6

[Kiarash]

That's what we said about Lebanon but we still lost there.

6 teams will.make this more difficult, specially as we always have difficulties with weak teams.and without speaking about arab teams against us.

It is statistic : 2 out of 5 leaves out with more chances than 2 out of 6

The loss vs Lebanon was just an accident, it probably happens once in a life time losing to a minor in football. We should have won that game 4-1, and we raped them the next games to prove the Beirut loss was a joke.

I don't expect any problems for qualifying to the next World Cup to be honest. We will get grouped with two minors in Asia, if we don't fuck that up we already have 12 points in the pocket. Then we will face an opponent like Qatar who we will have to deal with, one win and a draw is enough to make the World Cup 2018. But knowing Iran, we always make it difficult for ourselves.

[Bi-honar]

I think the biggest problem with the new format is actually the 2nd round (1st group stage), rather than the 3rd round (final group stage).

Don't forget in the previous world cup all the 2nd placed teams in the 2nd round qualified for the final group stage. This time around, only 4 of the 2nd placed teams will qualify.

So, if we were to use the current FIFA ranking, in a worst case scenario we would end up in a group with Australia, Korea DPR and Thailand which would be tougher group than our 3rd round qualifiers for the last three world cups and even finishing 2nd would not guarantee us a spot in the next round!

[rugs]

So long as our team is allowed to grow organically without outside influence or pressure and our NT manager, whoever it may be, is given all the tools, time, and support needed, there is no reason we shouldn't qualify.

If outside forces interfere and our football is divided, then it is very probable that we will fail.

[AminGP]

We will get grouped with two minors in Asia.

That increases the chance of teams like Saudi Arabia, China and UAE to qualify to the 3rd round so I actually think it's going to be tougher.

[CHaMiLLionaire]

That increases the chance of teams like Saudi Arabia, China and UAE to quality to the 3rd round so I actually think it's going to be tougher.

Not really... either way Saudi Arabia failed in a group that contained Oman And Australia... and they just got beaten by Qatar.
Our problem against Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and to an extent Iraq/Oman is mental, not technical.
At this current moment in time, Iran vs Saudi Arabia would be the equivalent of Germany vs Sweden/Denmark etc.

[Abtin]

Lets see how much IFF can mess up in the periods of june 11 2015 - march 29 2016 and september 1 2016 - september 5 2017. Crucial periods of TM matches are within those periods!

[Bi-honar]

Am I the only concerned about the fact that we only have one single friendly lined up between the end of the Asian Cup and start of WC qualification, especially considering that TM will need a major revamp after the Asian Cup?

Everyone (fans, IFF, CQ) waiting until two weeks before the 1st match to notice that friendlies should have been requested and scheduled in October or November of 2014?!

[Abtin]

^ if they are as incompetent and retarded as we know them, there won't be any other friendlies.

[khodam]

qatar will qualify. Their demonic efforts wiil have to pay off soon.

[persepolisfan]

this makes qualification tougher. its simple math really, last qualification, 40% of teams from each group could automatically get in to the most prestigious sporting event in the world, now it has been reduced to just over 30%. accordingly, more matches would be played, meaning more fatigue on the players. yes, some teams wont be as fit as TM players, but dont think for a moment Iran wont have major difficulties with the scheduling. I expect this to be a nasty, grueling and excruciatingly painful road to russia.

[PSGman#19]

qatar will qualify. Their demonic efforts wiil have to pay off soon.

I completly agree with you, they will qualify for the WC2022 for the first time of their history