IranSportsPress: Iran has to appeal to AFC

What did you think right after the draw?

NM: I was focusing on pot 3, that is, if Iran would face Japan/Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. It came down to either the Saudis or Bahrain so it was disappointing to see Iran grouped with the Saudis. Obviously the Saudis are clearly the better of the two.

MR: We got a pretty fair draw. If we don't make it out of this group or out of this qualification campaign, we simply don't deserve to be at the World Cup, full stop!

BG: Easier group all in all. I prefer Saudi and Korea over Japan and Australia. And I definitely prefer to have North Korea and the UAE over the Uzbeks and Qatar. Yes, you are right when you say it could have been us instead of Japan, I take that point...But I look at the overall picture on what could have been including the fact that Saudi could have been there and Japan here, and I look at it and say we haven’t done bad at all and I would rather be facing these four opponents than the four opponents there. And like some others have said, if we don’t qualify out of this group, we really don't have the right to be at the World Cup. I will go one further and say we should qualify out-right and not through a play-off either.

Was it a good or bad draw for Iran?

NM: Iran had bad luck facing the Saudis but better luck with pot 4, and possibly also better luck facing the Koreans and not a revenge hungry Aussie. A plus for Iran and Saudi Arabia is that South Korea once again will face it’s neighbours in the north. Iran has fair chance of finishing in the top two and if it finishes third it will most likely avoid both Japan and Australia in the playoffs.

MR: It's a good draw. Somehow we manage to get good results against South Korea and I would rather play them in qualification than Japan or Australia. Saudi Arabia is also an opponent I fancy lots more than Japan and UAE and North Korea are fair too. So we should somehow manage to make it and this group is far from difficult or impossible. We still got 1 year for the crunch time to prepare, if we prepare.

Which one game is the key game?

NM: Who wouldn’t want to say all games will be key games but if Iran wants to finish in the top two then it will need to at least play even with the Koreans and the Saudi.
Finally Iran has to complain to the AFC about the inhuman schedule Iran has in their last three group matches. That schedule is just not acceptable and very unfair, AFC has to change it!

MR: I think the key games will be the ones against Saudi Arabia and in general games away from home. It's not so much about beating them but about mentally being better. Saudi Arabia is mentally in many ways similar to Germany. Further, we lost 2002 by being poor away from home (only 1 win) so winning 2 and not losing would be crucial.

BG: Two away games against Saudi and South Korea will be very important. Anything more than two points from those games will be great.

I believe the teams in pot four will be very important in deciding who tops the groups. With that said although North Korea didn’t lose, let’s not forget that Uzbekistan is an emerging Asian force and Qatar prevailed from the group of death, including wins over Iraq and Australia and China.

Finally, like you said, it is shocking to see the travel arrangements the AFC has made for us in June 2009 and I believe we should appeal immediately to either swap one of the Korean trips with a home game against one of those opponents as it is disgraceful and unfair to travel back and forth between there and Iran in the space of four days.