Iran will face Oman and three minnows in the next round of the race to make it into the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
The draw for the second Asian qualifying round was held Tuesday at a hotel in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Iran was placed in Group D with Oman, India, Turkmenistan and Guam—which means that ironically Iran will play Americans early on. But Guam, an American territory, shouldn’t be much of a challenge.
The first round of the competition among Asia’s 46 countries was held earlier this year among the 12 Asian countries ranked lowest on the computer ranking system of FIFA, the governing body of international soccer. The six losers were eliminated, leaving 40 countries to compete in the upcoming second round.
The 40 countries have now been divided into eight groups of five teams each. Each team will play the other four in a pair of home-and-away matches. The winners of each group plus the four runners-up with the best records will advance to the next elimination round.
In drawing the groups Tuesday, the Asian Football Confederation first placed the top eight teams into different groups. It then drew lots to distribute the next eight highest ranked teams among the eight groups. It then repeated that process three more times.
This guarantees fairly even competition among the groups in terms of playing records.
One concern is that given Asia’s sprawling size, some teams have to travel great distances over many time zones before they play. In that regard, Iran came off quite well. Two of its opponents—Turk-menistan and Oman—are geographic neighbors and only Guam—its weakest opponent—requires an exhausting long-distance flight. The Australian team, on the other hand, will spend a great deal of time on planes to reach all of its opponents.
Here’s are the FIFA rankings of the Group D teams among the 209 teams in the world:
40—Iran
97—Oman
147—India
159—Turkmenistan
175—Guam
As a practical matter, only Oman should provide real competition.
The home-and-away matches will begin June 11 and wrap up March 29, 2016.
The 12 winning teams not only advance to the next round of the 2018 World Cup elimination matches but also to the next round of the 2019 Asian Cup elimination matches.
The 28 remaining teams are out of the World Cup but will play again to determine 12 more teams in the next Asian Cup.
Here is Iran’s playing schedule for the next round.
Jun 16—Turkmenistan in Turkmenistan
Sep 3—Guam in Tehran
Sep 8—India in India
Oct 8—Oman in Oman
Nov 12—Turkmenistan in Iran
Nov 17—Guam in Guam
Mar 24—India in Iran
Mar 29—Oman in Iran
