We don't have to play a South American team, you can't get a better outcome in a pool than that. If we have a full strength team with no key players injured, Egypt and Iran are possibilities to win.
Well thats probably the least hard group. Belgium rated 8th in world, Egypt 34 and Iran 20th. If we are good enough we could get at least one result, possibly more. They are all good solid teams but not very scarey. Belgiums golden generation is over. They have KDB who will be 35 and is now very injury prone. Doku and Lukaku are very good attackers. Egypt has Salah who can win games by him self. Iran are very efficient but not spectacular. The AW spectators will be all by themselves at Iran game. Trump wont let Iranians into USA. A little bit disappointed we didnt get a glam team like Brazil, Argentina Spain etc
It will be a massive disappointment if we either don't win a game or don't progress from that group. Avoided some really tough groups there, especially when it got down to us and Ghana being the last two to be drawn. We got lucky there.
It will be a massive disappointment if we either don't win a game or don't progress from that group. Avoided some really tough groups there, especially when it got down to us and Ghana being the last two to be drawn. We got lucky there.
We are still the lowest ranked team in the tournaments. I think the bare minimum is a point.
I was gutted when we didnt get drawn into Pool B with Qatar, Canada and Switzerland. Would have been the easiest group by an absolute country mile.
Nelsen disrespecting Iran a little bit by saying NZ will be targetting a win in that game when Egypt are probably a much easier team to beat if you can shut down Salah (which looks pretty easy these days with the form he and Liverpool are in). Iran are massive in Asia, head and shoulders above Australia.
Mon., June 15 Iran vs. New Zealand Lumen Field (Seattle, WA) Sun., June 21 New Zealand vs. Egypt BC Place (Vancouver, BC) Thurs., June 26 New Zealand vs. Belgium Lumen Field (Seattle, WA)
Well folks, I will see you in Vancouver (I assume) and will be happy to lend my support and voice against Egypt.
Regarding Iran there are more than a million Iranians in the US. There is a massive diaspora in Los Angeles alone. They will be very well supported even if they don’t let a single Iranian into the States.
Absolutely best cities for he AWs and fans. Seattle and Vancouver are by far the easiest to get to abd best climate in June. I dont quite share the optimism, we will be big underdogs in every game. Ok its a nice draw but Iran were very strong qualifying in Asia. Last WC they got smacked 2-6 by England and really struggled to over come Wales 2-0 with two late goals in injury time. Then lost 0-1 to USA Egypt got to the finals of Africa Cup of nations.....they are a very good side. We could get a result against Iran, probably our best chance
Mon., June 15 Iran vs. New Zealand Lumen Field (Seattle, WA) Sun., June 21 New Zealand vs. Egypt BC Place (Vancouver, BC) Thurs., June 26 New Zealand vs. Belgium Lumen Field (Seattle, WA)
Are these cities confirmed? Thought that was being done tomorrow.
Mon., June 15 Iran vs. New Zealand Lumen Field (Seattle, WA) Sun., June 21 New Zealand vs. Egypt BC Place (Vancouver, BC) Thurs., June 26 New Zealand vs. Belgium Lumen Field (Seattle, WA)
Are these cities confirmed? Thought that was being done tomorrow.
Asking the wrong people only Trump knows that given some of the shark he has said about Seattle.
Good locations, essentially the same city with a border in between. You could stay in the one place and attend all 3 gamestheaucklandphoenixfan
Mon., June 15 Iran vs. New Zealand Lumen Field (Seattle, WA) Sun., June 21 New Zealand vs. Egypt BC Place (Vancouver, BC) Thurs., June 26 New Zealand vs. Belgium Lumen Field (Seattle, WA)
deeply ignorant comment. Forgetting recent football history, just look at the FIFA rankings. Iran will be tougher than Egypttheprof
Jessie Merino
First up Iran. You can bet they'll target us as easy beats, go all out to boost their goal diff.
It's probably the game we target for the win as well, Iran are god but they are not Egypt or Belgium.
We all know the rankings are flawed, and recent histroy is essentially based what we should be looking at given theya re the results of the team we are most likely to be playing.
Iran ranked 20th - results have been ok I guess in friendlies and qualifying Egypt ranked 34th - similarly ok results nothing outstanding, having lost to similar teams Iran have, they play UAE tomorrow who Iran beat 2-0 recently. Beligium ranked 8th, they are clearly the most dangerous team in the group, with some big wins over smaler European nations and a couple fo high scoring close games.
AWs will take some confidence by only losing to Egypt 1-0 in Cairo last year. From memory we shared the possession stats
They didn’t have Salah but then we didn’t have Wood
It’s a kind draw, even more so if it is Vancouver and Seattle. Though our youngest team playing an aging Belgium in steamy LA, I could see that being not a bad venue
I think we should be aiming for at least a point against Belgium as well, not just Egypt and Iran. During qualifying they drew with North Macedonia and Kazakhstan, and in the last year they have also lost to Ukraine and Israel. They’re not unbeatable.
I think we should be aiming for at least a point against Belgium as well, not just Egypt and Iran. During qualifying they drew with North Macedonia and Kazakhstan, and in the last year they have also lost to Ukraine and Israel. They’re not unbeatable.
We should look at points from every game. Why bother going otherwise?
