Can the Chinese national football team break out of the "group of death"?, This time, the Chinese team | head coach | national football team
The draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 27th. The Chinese team, along with South Korea, Thailand, Singapore/Guam teams, will be in Group C.
Compared to other groups, Group C can be called the "group of death", but the Chinese team still has the strength to advance from the top two in the group. The key to breaking through is not to lose the chain, let go of ideological burdens, and get the points that should be won.
On March 22nd, Chinese men's football head coach Jankovic attended a press conference. On that day, the Chinese national men's football team conducted training in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Lei
With the expansion of the World Cup, the rules for the Asian regional qualifiers have also changed. The Chinese team, currently ranked 80th in the world, as the second tier team, can directly participate in the round of 36 in the second stage.
According to the rules, the top two from the 9 groups will advance to the third stage of the competition; At that time, 18 teams will be divided into 3 groups, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the World Cup. The third and fourth teams will participate in the fourth stage of the competition, competing for an additional 2.5 spots.
The first hurdle for the Chinese team to qualify for the World Cup is the round of 36. From the draw results, it can be seen that the Chinese team had poor signing luck, having drawn one of the strongest teams in the first round, South Korea, while the Thai team was almost the strongest in the third round.
At present, it seems that neither the Singapore team nor the Guam team in the fourth tier are likely to pose a threat to the other three teams as they advance. This means that in the situation where the South Korean team has superior strength, the outcome between the Chinese team and the Thai team is crucial.
When it comes to the Thai team, many fans will instantly think of the Chinese team's 1-5 devastating warm-up match 10 years ago. But from the record of the match, the Chinese team still has the upper hand. In the 2019 Asian Cup, the Chinese team advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Thailand 2-1 in a comeback.
As the dominant force in Southeast Asian football, the Thai team has not made significant progress in recent years. Currently ranked 113th in the world, they are facing challenges from Vietnam and even Indonesia in Southeast Asia.
From the 2019 Asian Cup, their form fluctuated greatly. In the first round of the group stage, they lost by a large margin to the Indian team, but then they were able to win against Bahrain and draw with the United Arab Emirates team, advancing from the group stage.
However, since the 2019 China Cup, the Chinese team has not played against the Thai team for over 4 years. In terms of the current strength of the Chinese team, there is no guarantee of winning against a team of this level in Thailand.
For the Chinese team, the more important thing is probably to do well in oneself and never underestimate opponents. The head coach of the Chinese team, Yankovic, had previously stated, "We have no right to underestimate any opponent, we must give our all in all matches."
Of course, facing the strongest South Korean team in the group, the Chinese team should also try their best to score points, and when facing the fourth tier team, they should try to score as many goals as possible.
Although there were only 6 matches, the entire competition lasted for nearly 7 months, with many variables. Therefore, the Chinese team must not be blindly optimistic or fall into despair just because of a victory or loss; Everything is possible on the football field, and the most important thing is to demonstrate the necessary level and style, and play every game well.
There are less than 4 months left until the November qualifiers start. From recent warm-up matches, it can be seen that the spiritual outlook of the Chinese men's football team has improved, but there are also many problems.
Yankovic clearly saw this, and he admitted that he cannot be satisfied with goals and victories. As a head coach, he must always focus on solving problems and will use every training session to continuously adjust and improve the team.
According to the schedule, the Chinese team will challenge the Thai team away in the first round of the preliminary round. Starting from the most difficult battle may not be a bad thing for the Chinese team.
