At 3 p.m. on June 27, at the headquarters of the AFC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the group draw for the top 18 of the World Preliminary Championship officially opened. The draw group has a direct impact on the 2026 World Cup Asian quota, the next round of 18 will directly produce 6 qualifying places, and the top two of the 3 groups will directly get tickets to the 2026 World Cup. As a team in Pot 5, it is almost impossible for the national football team to get the top 2 positions in the group, and if the group has an absolute advantage over us, it is more wise to rush into the top 4 to participate in the next stage of the competition.
In this draw ceremony, former Japan international Shinji Okazaki and former Iranian star Madavecchia will be the guests of honor to draw for the round of 18. There are no rules for the draw for the round of 18, that is, they are grouped according to brackets 1 to 6, and there are no evasion rules, even if the opponents who meet in the round of 36 meet in the round of 18, even if the teams from West Asia and West Asia are together. As soon as the time is up, the draw ceremony officially begins, and the draw will be conducted in the order from the 6th to the 1st gear. The first team to be drawn was North Korea in Group A, Kuwait in Group B, and Indonesia in Group C.
Next, Madavecchia drew the national football team and dropped the national football team to Group C, Palestine to Group B, and Kyrgyzstan to Group C. In Pot 4, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine and Bahrain are in Groups A, B and C respectively, Uzbekistan, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in Pot 3 are in Groups A, B and C, Qatar, Iraq and Australia are in Pot 2 and are in Groups A, B and C in turn, and finally Iran, South Korea and Japan are in Groups A, B and C respectively. Then the final national football team is in Group C, including Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China and Indonesia.
Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia are the opponents that the national football team encountered in the last round of 12, and it is difficult for any opponent to fight for it now. Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are the strongest teams in brackets 1 to 3, plus the national football team is the highest ranked in bracket 5, and Indonesia is by no means the strength of the 6th pot team with a large number of naturalizations.
For us, the round of 18 is the World Cup, and the national football team, as a weaker team in the group, has gained every game for us, and the training we get may not be worse than participating in the World Cup. Let's play game by game, let's play it down-to-earth, fans will not set goals, and the national football team will lower its profile and fight every game. Veterans of this national football team, this is the last chance for your national team career, and I hope you can leave no regrets.