The Japanese Football Association announced on January 8 that the 2022 Kirin Challenge Cup, which was scheduled for the 21st of this month, Japan's match against Uzbekistan will be cancelled, which means that before playing against the national football team, Japan will not have a warm-up match, which is not conducive to the Asian powerhouse adjusting to the best state, so this is a good thing for the national football team. Of course, with Japan's 2-1 victory over Australia and 1-0 victory over Oman, the former Asian champion Japan has been very optimistic, currently ranking 2nd in the group, pressing the Australian men's football team, and the national football team only ranks 5th!
According to the plan of the Japan Football Association, on January 21, the Japanese team will play a warm-up match with the Uzbekistan men's football team, which will be held at the Saitama Stadium, which is also the venue for Japan and the national football team. However, in view of the current severe situation, Uzbekistan is prohibited from entering the Japanese border, and it is impossible to play with the Japanese team as scheduled, so under pressure, the Japanese Football Association announced the cancellation of the match.
It is worth mentioning that whether the national football team and the Japanese team can be played, this is actually unknown, once the national football team is not allowed to enter, then the Japanese men's football team and the national football team of this top 12 match, will be placed in the middle position, for the Japanese team, this is equivalent to losing the home advantage, therefore, in addition to the Japanese team can not play the pre-match warm-up game, Li Xiaopeng has gained 2 major benefits, the national football team is expected to be cold on the opponent.
Although the strength of the Japanese team far exceeds the national football team, but the first meeting, the Japanese team only won 1-0, and the current Japanese team can not activate the strongest strength, Mori Baoichi's team in the 12 rounds is difficult, until the last 3 rounds, only to get 3 consecutive wins, the first 3 rounds, they lost 2 games, so the national football team does have a chance to score points on this Japanese team.
For Li Xiaopeng, if he can get 1 point on his opponent, this is very ideal, of course, 3 points is better and more difficult. This week, Li Xiaopeng's first national football list was announced, a total of 52 players were selected, from this detail, the Football Association still attaches great importance to the next 12 rounds, otherwise, it will not be so much trouble, you know, Li Xiaopeng's assistant coach has 15. It can be seen that the national football team is also eager to beat the Japanese team to death and win the first-line opportunity to qualify.
Recently, there is even news that FIFA is ready to give the national football team a green card, even if the national football team can not reach the World Cup finals in the future, it will also receive special care, this is because FIFA realizes that if the Chinese men's football team does not qualify for the World Cup, this is actually a major loss for international football and cannot open up the Chinese market. Of course, even if you have a green card, you have to wait until the 2026 World Cup, as for the Qatar World Cup, the national football team is still highly unlikely to win.