There are strong indications that the upcoming two FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers of Team Melli against Cambodia and Hong Kong will be postponed and the possibility of playing all the remaining rounds of matches in a round-robin format in one country. This has made Dragan Skocic’s mission of qualifying that much harder for several reasons.

While some countries have suggested that the remaining matches should be held centrally because of the coronavirus, there are others that oppose that idea and insisting that the matches should be carried out on a home and away basis as normal while strictly observing health protocols and compliance with Covid19 prevention conventions.

Currently, several Asian countries are continuing ahead with football activities behind closed doors. The league competitions are held in this way in most countries and one of them is Iran.

It is natural for the Iranian Football Federation FFIRI to resist holding the games in a centralized venue, because Team Melli is hosting three of the remaining 4 games, and now if it is to play in a centralized venue, it will be deprived of home advantage. According to the Football Federation, the AFC has not yet sent a letter to the member states regarding the manner of holding the remaining games, and as far as the FFIRI is concerned, it would follow the last original schedule. However, it is hardly unlikely that such an arrangement will prevail. If the Asian Football Confederation decides to hold the remaining matches centrally, the Iranian Football Federation will vote for Qatar as the host of the games.

Another country that has announced its readiness to host Iran Group Games is the UAE. Interestingly, if the games are finalized in one centralized venue, the matches will be held at later dates possibly June 2021.

One issue with the single venue is that the matches will be held intensively, and this round of qualifiers will have to be over in less than two weeks. All teams must play 4 matches within 14 days.

In this scenario, the remaining qualifying rounds of FIFA World Cup 2022 matches will probably be held after the end of the league season, which means that Team Melli will not have a program in April.

Without a doubt, these will be stressful times for all the teams in the qualifiers and most of the teams need to go back to the drawing board to reschedule and change their plans. For Team Melli, it is of the utmost importance to arrange friendly matches to prevent the squad from being inactive and stagnant if the matches are to be held in June 2021.