{"id":2851,"date":"2022-09-19T14:52:27","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T05:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/?p=2851"},"modified":"2026-09-24T21:53:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:23:58","slug":"world-cup-and-asian-cup-preparations-step-up-in-crucial-international-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/world-cup-and-asian-cup-preparations-step-up-in-crucial-international-window\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup and Asian Cup preparations step up in crucial international window"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Asian Game’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is proudly sponsored by SMC.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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With World Cup and Asian Cup qualification all wrapped up, September greets us to the beginning of the end to preparations in the run up to both competitions.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For the elite, six Asian nations continue their preparation along the Road to Qatar, now only two months away. Breaking with tradition, four of them have decamped from their home comforts to travel to Europe, with the possibly misguided expectation that organising matches against sides from the same continent as their upcoming World Cup opponents will best prepare them for the tournament kick off in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the glut of new apparel revealed across social media last week, to the new names in the dugout and on the squad list; this September may greet the nearing culmination of World and Asian Cup preparations, rather than the beginning of a new campaign, as we have come to expect in cycles gone by, yet the same anticipation and intrigue is building towards a crucial period of testing and evolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the future as Queiroz returns to Team Melli<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The headline makers over the last few months have unequivocally been Iran<\/strong>. The drawn-out sacking of Dragan Skocic<\/a>, and swift re-appointment of Carlos Queiroz has brought back the wave of good feeling around the national team which had recently ebbed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merely months ago, the prospect of worthwhile friendlies during the international break seemed a far distant flight of fancy for Team Melli, yet in basing themselves in Austria in late September to face two fellow World Cup qualifiers in Uruguay and Senegal, we are presented with a credible set of opponents to test the Portuguese coach\u2019s methods straight off the bat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queiroz\u2019s initial squad selection<\/a> rather unsurprisingly feels comfortably familiar for the incoming coach, with a return to some of the more integral, ageing generals that formed the system he\u2019ll no doubt hark back to in his reinstatement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Return calls for Ramin Rezaeian and Morteza Pouraliganji, who\u2019ve both returned to playing their domestic football in Iran this year, alongside 35-year-old Omid Ebrahimi and Karim Ansarifard, who has only managed two goals this calendar year, suggests familiar faces are being preferred to outright form or potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udea8 \ud835\uddd8\ud835\udde3\ud835\udddc\ud835\udde6\ud835\udde2\ud835\uddd7\ud835\uddd8 \ud835\udfed\ud835\udff2\ud835\udff5 \ud83d\udea8

\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f @Carlos_Queiroz<\/a> Returns as #TeamMelli<\/a> \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf7 Head Coach

\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f @Arya_Allahverdi<\/a> @Sinaa_sa<\/a> @BabakGolriz<\/a>
\u2702\ufe0f @713Samson
\ud83d\udcf7 @mativsh<\/a>

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Google https:\/\/t.co\/3P9mtLcizV<\/a><\/p>— Gol Bezan (@GolBezan) September 17, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>