Team Melli hops of qualifying to the next round of the FIFA World Cup 2022 hit a big hurdle after the Asian Football Confederation announced the hosts of all the remaining matches in Asian Zone.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc for the entire qualifying tournament, with the majority of matches originally rescheduled for March pushed back to June.
Kuwait will host the remaining games to be played in Group B, which also features runaway leaders Australia, Jordan, Chinese Taipei, and Nepal.
Iran travels to Bahrain in Group C, where the hosts will be joined by Iraq, Hong Kong, and Cambodia, while Saudi Arabia hosts Uzbekistan, Singapore, Yemen, and Palestine in Group D.
Oman, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh will play their Group E matches alongside Qatar in Doha and Group F leaders Japan will host Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, and Mongolia.
The United Arab Emirates will welcome Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand for Group G and South Korea will host Group H rivals Turkmenistan, Lebanon, North Korea, and Sri Lanka.
Games will be played from May 31 until June 15.
Iran is currently lying third in Group C, after leader Iraq and Bahrain thanks to two consecutive defeats under the now-departed Belgian coach Marc Wilmots. Only the winners of the eight groups are certain to advance to the third phase of qualifying, from where the continent’s four guaranteed places at the finals in Qatar in 2022 will be determined.
Team Melli defeated Hong Kong and Cambodia but lost against the two Arab countries both away from home. While there was counting on home advantage in the return legs, it is now finding itself playing the home games at one of its opponents. Such thing never happened in the history of the world cup. Iran has a major and legitimate case which both FIFA and the AFC need to answer to. The combination of a feeble Iranian football federation management and lack of skilled managers in Iran’s football means once again, Iran has been defeated by the mafia of Asian football. For information, the President of AFC is from Bahrain.
Although it is far from an impossible task, the task is harder for Team Melli which really needs to be at its best for the qualifiers.