it looks like this is the new trend in soccer.
concacaf has announced it's own nations league
for the 2019-20 season
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–20_CONCACAF_Nations_League
so sooner or later the afc has to follow.
i actually like the idea of iran playing australia,japan,korea,etc...in a
league format.better then friendlies against village teams from africa.