why  people in countries such as iran can not recive visa as easy as the other countries for watching worldcup
375121
I'm sorry to say even football games conducted by policy
1040334
Well, some countries are clearly giving them bonuses  ;-))\n\nFake penalties, yellow cards, fouls... there is probably a fee's table to choose from.
1019852
ya the rules of fifa have changed now\nas the hosting nation opens the world cup \nand first the rule was that the previous cup winner also gets a place in the world cup without playing qualifiers , now only the hosting nation gets the place without playing the qualifiers.
1114217
I agree with you, but i think they have proven something by just being in the world cup, because it is a long way to qualify for the World Cup. I also agree with Iran, and Trinidad, because Iran is a though team, and trinidad gave a pretty good defence in the last two games. But if you remeber Croatia made it to the quarter finals in their last World Cup, or 1998 i don't really remember.
324233
I think it's a great decision.  Since the world cup is every 4 years, just because a team was good enough to win the World Cup 4 years ago does not mean they are good enough to even make it past the qualifying round.  Just look at France in 1998 and then in 2002...two completely different teams.  I can see the host country because that's where a lot of your attendance is coming from and you don't want to alienate the citizens of that country.  Good job FIFA!!!
1895
I think they can.\nI don't think Portugal can do well in World Cup.\nmexico isn't that great either, Iran can gain atleast 2 points in those games.\nA win in one of those games will have Iran advancing.\nA win over Angola isn't going to be that hard.
369542
The better question is when will have better teams in the World Cup?  In some regions a lot better teams don't get in and some other regions get teams that aren't even competitive to meet the limit, but what are you gonna do.
1067127
It's an obvious but simple answer. The players aren't good enough. They don't compete to a very high standard in their domestic league and are out of their depth when it comes to playing in the World Cup.
1105768
Hmm...it's interesting but by that logic, we wouldn't need to spend 30 days on a world cup. Why don't we just hand Brazil (or a supposed winner) instead of watching teams slug it out for the big prize!? :)
19886
I, myself being an Iranian, I would say I hope the best for it. But the problems it is having on the international front are causing some problems. But on the other hand, IRAN will be kicking butt in the world cup in Germany!
591982
Iran's team is not the representative of Iranian Government. It is the Rep of the Iranian people who are fighting with the government.\n\nBut going back to your question. Iran's got a ver good team this yea. Just check their last result against Croatia 2-2. That game really finished for Iran but the Croat Ref got a last second penalty to save them from embarrassment.\n\nIran's got very talented players.\n\nIran will reach the 2nd stage and after that it all depends to luck and their skills
392206
I'd advise you to keep an eye on Iran.  Success at the World Cup is about passion.  Look at France and Argentina in 2002.  Neither advanced beyond the group stage because they didn't play with a desire to win, but with the expectation that they would win.  Iran has a decent team in a difficult group with Mexico and Portugal.  If Iran advances out of that group, it will be because of their players' hearts and desire to win for their country, not necessarily because they are better than Mexico or Portugal.  Think about the political situation in Iran right now.  The people are besieged with pressure from the West and the government censors so much of the Western media.  The people's outlet is soccer, and the Iranian team's players know that.  Assuming that Iran advances into the Round of 16, they will have momentum and confidence and can win at least one elimination game.  They may even be able to give their Round of 8 opponent a difficult time, as the US did against Germany in 2002.  That would be a significant achievement for a team that has only been to the finals 3 times, and it could start Iran on the road to regular qualifications in the future.  That's the meaning of breakout.
314099
The world cup teams are put together by citizens of each nation.  This is usually based off of the country of origin of the player.  But some players that have played in an international league for an extended period of time can get citizenship in that country thus allowing them to play for that country or their country of birth.
1182065
Iran are in Group D of the World Cup, along with Portugal, Mexico and Angola. It would be considered a shock if Portugal and Mexico don't qualify for the next round.
1158856
It is like people and weather in that country. Individualism dominates that culture and it reflect to the society and the soccer style.\nNo way, they never will win a world cup
638547
The World Cup is held every Four Years and is held in differant countries around the world (i.e France 1998, Korea 2002, Germany 2006)\nAnd even if you wanted to go to the World Cup, the tickets will be sold out now, if you want to go you better have good clicking skills once the Quarter Final participants are announced, as people WILL be buying them then.
1026858
Yes.  Just because not everyone has a TV set doesn't mean they won't watch it.  You can go to bars or other places to watch games -- which a lot of people.  I've been down in Brazil during a world cup and can tell you that 95% of the population is watching the game somehow.  Believe it or not, almost everyone in the ghetto had at least a small tv.\n\nI'd say with Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and a good portion of the US, you probably have close to 2 billion people watching games (on the internet or tv).\n\n\nAfter taking a second, more empirical look at this, I crunched some numbers and came up with a little under 1.8 billion.  This total included the populations of all the countries participating in the WC, and a very modest and trimmed assumption of immediate surrounding countries which may bear some interest.  One caveat to this was the United States, where I assumed at most only 20% of the population would have even taken a look at one of the games.  China, India, and most African countries were completely excluded.  The number 2 billion is likely a slight rounding up from 1.8 from the TV networks.