At 20:00 Beijing time on February 1, the national football team will play away against Vietnam in the round of 12. Cameron Wilson, a well-known journalist currently living in Shanghai, wrote an article looking forward to the match and arguing that if it loses to Vietnam, then the national football team will face a disaster, the following is a full translation.
We need not be too surprised by the performance of the Chinese team in the round of 12. Their dream of reaching the World Cup is over, although in theory, if China wins the remaining three matches by a big score and Australia loses all three, china can still get a Ticket to the Group B play-off.
However, this is almost impossible. Now, for the Chinese team and the Chinese football community, the away match against Vietnam has become a battle of honor.
Losing to Vietnam would be a disaster
China's 2-0 defeat to Japan in World War I was expected. The level gap between the two teams is too big, however, Chinese fans are still angry about the performance of the players because they want Li Xiaopeng's team to play better.
The Chinese team only has 37% of the ball and a pass success rate of only 67%, and they only know how to stick to the opponent's attack. Li Xiaopeng's team did not have a single shot against Japan, which made chinese fans angry. It wasn't until the 70th minute that the Chinese team had their first shot on goal.
For the Chinese team, losing to Japan is not a disaster, because at the moment no one has much confidence in them. The problem is that current Chinese football doesn't offer any hope.
In recent times, the Chinese team has not shown too many positive signals. In the remaining World Cup, the Chinese team faced fatigue, public pressure and worrying player ability.
In the current squad of the Chinese team, there are not many promising young players. The opportunity for talented players to shine is almost non-existent, which is understandable, because the Chinese team is always facing great pressure from public opinion. Even if they can't make it to the World Cup, they need to make their fans proud.
For the Vietnamese team and the Chinese team, this game is crucial. They all hope to win this game, because the remaining opponents are stronger, and the Vietnamese team is currently at the bottom of the 7-game defeat team, and the Chinese team is in the bottom two with 5 points.
Vietnam need a win, but they are still the weakest team in the group. If it loses to the Vietnamese team, then the Chinese team will face the anger of public opinion. Even if it is an away draw, Li Xiaopeng is not a success. Although he had just taken over the whip from Li Tie's hand, his position was also shaky.
The timing of this match is also special because it is the first day of the Lunar New Year. If their team loses, neither Vietnamese nor Chinese fans will be happy.
Wu Lei is a rare light
Wu Lei did not perform well against Japan, but when facing Vietnam, Wu Lei, who played in La Liga, will still lead the way. In the first leg of the meeting, the 30-year-old Wu Lei changed the game.
At present, Wu Lei leads the world cup Asian qualifiers with 4 goals to the top of the third round of the top scorer list. At the moment, he has almost no chance to play in Espanyol. But if we look at Wu Lei's standards, then he can play for any top Team in Asia. I have to admit that in these years, Wu Lei is a rare genius in Chinese football.
However, in the Chinese football world, there are too few players who dare to play abroad. If the Chinese team has 10 other players who are as good as Wu Lei, then their dream of playing in the 2022 World Cup will be ignited.
However, we need to face the reality that the quality of the Chinese team and the development of the entire Chinese football industry are not as good as imagined.
Some naturalized players like Luo Guofu have enough strength, but internal problems with the Chinese team prevent them from often getting playing opportunities. This is the problem that Chinese footballers face. Football in this country lacks both talent and a system to develop talent.