The quadrennial World Cup group draw has been settled, and the fate of Asian teams has also been settled. From the current group situation, the host Qatar and Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran are not good, the qualifying situation is invariably severe, and among them, Iran and South Korea two teams also have to directly play against their old enemies the United States and Portugal, and one team will repeat the mistakes of the 2002 World Cup if they are not careful.
Qatar: The host is a strong enemy, and none of the three opponents have a chance of winning
Perhaps, even the Qataris themselves did not expect that as hosts, they not only did not enjoy the "group treatment" that the hosts had in the past, but instead were divided into a dangerous "death group" with the Netherlands, Ecuador and Senegal - the "uncrowned king" Netherlands need not elaborate, as long as there is no accident, they are a sure thing; as for Ecuador and Senegal, they are famous "fierce characters" in world football, even with the blessing of the host, it is not easy to beat them.
Qatar's current situation is easily reminiscent of the South African team in the 2010 World Cup, and the former host South Africa team also had poor luck, they were in the same group as the first-class French team and Uruguay and Mexico, two "hidden" strong teams, although the South African team performed well enough (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss), but it was unfortunately eliminated due to the disadvantage of goal difference.
Fortunately, the Qatari schedule is still ideal at present, the first two rounds of the team are facing Ecuador and Senegal, which theoretically have the possibility of scoring points, if there is a surprise, there is still a possibility of fate reversal, on the contrary, the three games have no chance of winning is not alarmist.
Iran: "Persian Iron Horse" dream back to 98, a win can be expected to qualify before the completion
If you want to ask who was the Asian light of the 98 World Cup, it must be the Iranian men's football team with the name of "Persian Iron Horse". At that time, the Iranian golden generation, which gathered Ali Dei, Bagheri, Aziz and Madaviya, not only hit the 97 national football team twice in the previous Top 10, but also defeated the United States team 2-1 in the group stage of that World Cup, achieving the only victory of the Asian team in that World Cup, and also won the respect of world football. Today, this "Persian Iron Horse" with more balanced overall strength is determined to break the embarrassing "record" that they have not qualified in the group before through this World Cup, which is somewhat inconsistent with their temperament.
However, the iranian team's grouping this time still seems to be unlucky, and even returned to the situation that the grouping of the 98 World Cup was not high or low. English football has taken off the hat of "pseudo-strong team" under the leadership of Southgate in recent years, and their strength will only be stronger than that of Germany in the alternation of old and new in 98; the strength of Yugoslavia in 98 was actually seriously underestimated at that time, just like Finland, Ukraine and Wales in the current play-offs - especially Wales has the strength to compete with strong teams; as for the other team, the United States, the two sides have already met in the 98 World Cup, and the United States team will naturally not give up in the face of opponents who have defeated themselves.
For the current Iranian team, they can already be regarded as an Asian team with great hopes of qualifying in Asia. Although the strength of the U.S. men's soccer team has not been the same as in the past in 98 years, the downward trend in recent years is still the most promising winning goal; and the outstanding performance with Spain and Portugal in the last World Cup is bound to allow iran to gain the courage and confidence to play against European teams, if the Persian Iron Horse can continue to continue such a performance in this World Cup, then the group qualification may not be empty talk.
Saudi Arabia: Three mountains are difficult to climb, and the tragedy in 2002 may repeat itself
If there is hope, there is despair, and if you ask who may be the most unlikely to qualify from the current Asian teams, it will be Saudi Arabia, which is known as "West Asia Brazil". In their group, argentina, Mexico and Poland are three strong opponents, while the obviously weak Saudi Arabia is bound to become the "fat meat" with "qualifying guarantees" in their eyes.
These three teams in front of the Saudi team can be described as three mountains, Argentina and Mexico do not need to repeat, even just rely on the Russian ban to advance to the other two teams slightly inferior to the strength of the Polish team, is also a big name Lewandowski and a number of Serie A cadres on the book of the extraordinary team, coupled with Saudi football's historical high-altitude disadvantage against European teams, it is difficult for people to expect the prospect of this team's group qualification.
In the Journey of the Saudi Team's previous World Cups, the most painful is the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, the Saudi Team that fought in Asia in that World Cup is also half the host, but it lost 12 goals in 3 games and finally ranked last among the 32 teams, and the poor results even overshadowed another Asian team, the Chinese team, which performed poorly; but unlike the present, the Saudi team's group at that time was in addition to the 8-goal defeat of Germany. The other two teams, Cameroon and Ireland, are not really strong teams, and their situation is far less severe than it is today. So for this old west Asian powerhouse, avoiding a big defeat and trying to get points seems far more realistic than the goal of qualifying from the group.
Japan: West Germany has poor luck in the pinch, and the Blue Warriors have a hard time fighting for the top eight
There is no doubt that in recent years, the development and progress rate of Japanese football has almost become unsuitable for the "galaxy" of Asia. Aside from the Asian Cup and the World Cup, there seems to be no tournament in Asia that can arouse the desire of this country to send a team to compete. Even in recent years, the attitude towards the world's competitive Copa America has been the same, which shows its strong talent base and competitive strength; and in the last World Cup in Russia, Japan was the only team to qualify from Asia. Although the strength has declined slightly in recent years, as long as the World Cup is not divided into the group of death, then the Japanese team is the most promising team in Asia.
It's just that the world is always unpredictable, just as the Japanese team coach Mori Hoichi shouted out the top 8 target, the Japanese team then divided into a group with Spain and Germany in the draw ceremony; Although Japanese football has made metamorphosis progress in recent years, it is only in a second-rate position in world football in the strict sense, and the two opponents are the originators of transmission control, and the other has the physical confrontation advantage of the world football world; these will indicate the seriousness of Japanese football's journey to the World Cup.
However, Japanese football is also not a vegetarian team. In fact, in the one-eighth of the last World Cup, Japan met the final World Cup runner-up Belgium, in that game that was praised by many people, Japan once led 2-0, if it were not for the excessive strength of the opponent Belgium and its own height disadvantage, the Blue Warriors were fully capable of creating more surprises. Relatively in that World Cup, Germany and Spain's performance is far less than Belgium (Spain stopped in the top 8, the German group was eliminated), none of which implies that the Japanese team is not without opportunities to qualify, as for the so-called top 8 target, it is natural to qualify first.
South Korea: The enemies of the wronged family gathered together, and the Taiji Tiger was caught in the middle of it
02 From which game did Korean football start from the "black to the end"? I'm afraid some people will talk about the quarter-finals and Italy, but in fact the last match against Portugal in that group stage was the ugly beginning for the Koreans. This time the group reunites with Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal will not miss the opportunity to count this new vendetta and old hatred together.
From the perspective of the other two opponents, South Korea's qualifying situation is not optimistic. Uruguay met at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when Uruguay defeated South Korea. The gap in strength between the two sides has not changed with the passage of time for several years, Cavani and Suarez and a group of top league players can shoot at any team in the world; Although Ghana's journey to the World Cup is a bit bumpy, but the 100 million euro luxury lineup led by Mane can not be easily shaken, and the South Korean team has previously faced the Algerian team in Africa like a melon and cut vegetables 2-4 defeat. Now facing a more luxurious lineup, Ghana looks more like a fierce multi-ji.
Like the Portuguese team in the past, the current advantage of the South Korean team is probably known to everyone on the earth, that is, the Tottenham hotspur star Son Heung-min, who is currently in the first line, so how to build a team around the world's first-tier star seems to be the hope of whether the Korean team can qualify; but it cannot be forgotten that the South Korean team has such an advantage and the three opponents in the same group also have it; so if you want to qualify for the South Korean team, you must not only count on Son Heung-min, but also need the efforts of others, because football is always compared to the overall strength. Otherwise, the Taiji Tiger who is trapped in it will be difficult to do anything.
(Text/Butterfly Puff pastry)