{"id":54271,"date":"2025-12-13T18:49:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T02:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=54271"},"modified":"2025-12-13T18:49:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T02:49:18","slug":"iran-handed-favorable-group-at-2026-wc-homayoun-shahrokhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2025\/12\/13\/iran-handed-favorable-group-at-2026-wc-homayoun-shahrokhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran handed favorable Group at 2026 WC: Homayoun Shahrokhi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Following the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Iran found themselves placed in Group G alongside Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand, an outcome that former national team coach Homayoun Shahrokhi described as exceptionally favorable.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking to Tehran Times, he stated, \u201cIt couldn\u2019t have been better. Iran are in an easy group and can definitely advance, provided we prepare properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shahrokhi emphasized that the team\u2019s success depends on organization and calmness. \u201cThe national team need peace and stability,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we want results, we must use all our resources. This is our best chance in years to qualify for the knockout stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also criticized the expanded 48-team World Cup format, insisting that the tournament\u2019s level has dropped. \u201cWhen the World Cup had 16 teams, the quality was extraordinary,\u201d he noted. \u201cNow, with 48 teams, the quality will certainly decline. Qualifying from the group stage is no longer a big achievement. Only after reaching the final 32 we can truly talk about World Cup-level football.\u201d Shahrokhi added. \u201cFIFA sacrificed this World Cup for financial benefits. With more teams, it won\u2019t be as attractive as before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to preparations, he stressed the importance of playing against strong teams in warm-up matches. \u201cNow that we know our opponents, we must plan our warm-up matches carefully,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to see our weaknesses and fix them. Playing African mid-tier teams won\u2019t help us. We must face world-class teams. Otherwise, we will go to the 2026 World Cup as mere participants and be eliminated early.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evaluating Iran\u2019s opponents, Shahrokhi identified Belgium as the main challenge but offered a measured assessment: \u201cBelgium are a second-tier European team. History shows they haven\u2019t achieved much in European competitions. Their third place in 2018 was their peak, and they went out in the group stage in the 2022 World cup. We must not underestimate them, but they are not unbeatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Egypt, he reflected on the past, noting: \u201cThere was a time when Egypt stood as Africa\u2019s top team, but the side I\u2019ve seen recently is far more ordinary, still balanced, disciplined, and confident, yet no longer at the level they once were.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described New Zealand as \u201can unknown team with physical strength but not a powerhouse in Oceania,\u201d adding, \u201cThey don\u2019t have a high chance against Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Shahrokhi believes Iran has a rare opportunity as he describes \u201cthe best in years\u201d, if preparation matches ambition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Following the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Iran found…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":54272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,86,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c47-featured-news","category-c13-team-melli-news","category-world-cup"],"views":758,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54273,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54271\/revisions\/54273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}