World Cup Qualifier: Qatar - Iran; Info, Updates and Live Reports (23.03.2017)

[lakerfan23]

positive note:

both the syria vs uzbekistan and south korea vs china matches will be determined before the kickoff of iran vs qatar. psychologically it will give a big boost for iran to win if both uzbekistan and south korea come out victorious in their respective matches.

[IranFan]

Defense and midfield is set.

Beiranvand- Rezaein- Hosseini- PAG- Mohammadi along with Hajsafi and Ezzatolahi in midfield.

The remaining four players is where all the changes may happen, mostly in the final third.

Amiri and JB will almost surely start. The other two is a toss up. I'll go with Masoud as CAM and one of Sardar/Gucci/Ansarifard as ST ... or

I disagree, A healthy montazeri will always start

[Iran_19]

I would start Montazeri and PAG against Qatar base on their experience playing in Qatar league.

[PersianLegion]

[Kiarash]

To be honest I think I'll be content with a 0-0 draw in Doha considering we always have a hard time against Qatar.

If we manage to bring 1 point from them and come clean from injuries or suspensions, I expect the full 3 points in Azadi against China few days later.

4 points in total and it means we are still perfectly on track to top the table and qualify for Russia 2018.

[Sly]

Here you can enter your scores and calculate points through a simulation.

http://ultra.zone/2018-FIFA-World-Cup-qualification-AFC-Third-Round

With my results Iran and Uzbekistan are going to have the same points. Is the goal difference or the head-to-head more relevant?

Great site!

From my calculations, even if we get a draw against Qatar, we should win against China, Uzbekistan and Syria at home! Then we'd still qualify to the WC! Even if we lose to Korea!

[masoud nekounam]

Great site!

From my calculations, even if we get a draw against Qatar, we should win against China and Uzbekistan at home and against Syria away! Then we'd still qualify to the WC! Even if we lose to Korea!

Syria's a home game too, actually.

[arasradio]

Why the Syria game is away? That one will be in Azadi!

[arasradio]

One question!

Team Melli lost to Iraq today. I know none of the legion we were there (no media closed doors) but how come it is not on FIFA site. Wasn't this game official? Because this loss can endanger our FIFA ranking position if we officially played. Losing to a lower ranking at home as awful consequences ranking wise. I had some idea we would lose because Iraq goes with their full squad and it's a strong team; while we go with a weaker version. On a normal day we are lucky to win with a low margin or tie. However this was not definitely a normal day . Not strange (our first ever loss against an Asian side that happened to be the only one beating us in 2015 as well) I'm just worried about the ranking and it's after shock against Qatar.

I hope Beiramvand is not our goalie on that day because Tamata knows how to score against him.

[PersianLegion]

Meanwhile in Iraq!

[Karimi 8]

Meanwhile in Iraq!

what's wrong with the video?

[Tehranto]

One question!
Team Melli lost to Iraq today. I know none of the legion we were there (no media closed doors) but how come it is not on FIFA site. Wasn't this game official? Because this loss can endanger our FIFA ranking position if we officially played. Losing to a lower ranking at home as awful consequences ranking wise. I had some idea we would lose because Iraq goes with their full squad and it's a strong team; while we go with a weaker version. On a normal day we are lucky to win with a low margin or tie. However this was not definitely a normal day . Not strange (our first ever loss against an Asian side that happened to be the only one beating us in 2015 as well) I'm just worried about the ranking and it's after shock against Qatar.
I hope Beiramvand is not our goalie on that day because Tamata knows how to score against him.

Asia Cup 2015 was a tie - not a loss. We lost in the penalty shootout, technically that's a tie. Although winning in penalties is a skill we haven't mastered and they advanced. So credit to that.

Look guys, Iraq are not on par or close. Look at their standings in the other group. They tied Thailand twice last round. Tied Vietnam etc. We lost because it can happen in football and it's a friendly. It's a PREP game. Go to some of the biggest teams in the world and see what happens in their friendly games. The most important thing is we played a game before our REAL game. I would have been happy to play Afghanistan at this point.

But don't make them a monster or some great team. The stats say completely otherwise. Now we are lucky to beat them? Knee jerk reaction.

[Sly]

Syria's a home game too, actually.

True, made a mistake!

Even better!

[DireStraits]

If Iran comes down in FIFA ranking Iran can come back winning few games. But if we lose WCQ we can't get it back. Enough on that subject.
I don't think we can predict the lineup because we don't know Qatar's lineup. CQ must evaluate their players so player by player we are stronger. We are not going to see Iran's ideal lineup but the one chosen for this game. If i know CQ well he would pick an unpredictable lineup and an unpredictable keeper. Could be Mazaheri because we may see a penalty in the game and I think he will have best statistic in penalty situations. Be prepared for dirty tricks fights red cards and so on. Qatar is crazy after winning Iran or at least preventing us from WC using what ever tricks possible. Penalty filming is normal in that game. If we get red cards we miss our players for few games which mean CQ should be careful who he will start. This is going to a dirty game. I hope we get a normal nonarab referee.

[FeLFeL]

CQ will most likely start the match with a defensive mindset, which means either Sardar or Gucci start, not both. I know it's hard to predict his line-up but I'll give it a shot cause it's fun!