At 20:30 on November 16, Beijing time, the second phase of the 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers group stage officially started, and the national football team played the first game to Thailand!
After the expansion of the 2026 World Cup, the 8.5 seats in the Asian region have become a major benefit for the national football team to impact the World Cup finals. However, everything has to come from the matching of their own strength. A total of 36 teams participated in the second stage of the Asian qualifiers (round of 36 stage), and the top two teams in 9 groups advanced to the third stage (round of 18 stage)! The Chinese men's football team is in Group C with South Korea, Singapore and Thailand, and competing for the second place in the group has become the most realistic and basic goal of the national football team!
Match preview: Today at 20:30, China vs Thailand [CCTV CCTV5 live broadcast]
China, ranked 79th in the world, have won 3, drawn 2 and lost 3 in all competitions this season, scoring 11 goals and conceding 6 goals, and losing three games against New Zealand, Syria and Uzbekistan. In other words: in a game where the hard power is close, the national football team loses more and wins less!
Even though 11 goals were scored in eight games, eight of them were scored against weak teams (Myanmar, Vietnam, and Palestine).
The opponent Thailand, ranked 112th in the world, won 5, drew 3 and lost 5 in all competitions this season, scoring 18 goals and conceding 22 goals!
Whether it is the world ranking or the overall strength, the national football team deserves to win this game. The return of Zhang Yuning in the squad this time is really a shot in the arm for the national football team. Whether it is Aikeson, who was selected before, or Tan Long, who is also in the team, their personal characteristics are obviously different from Zhang Yuning. Physical advantages and running at the expense of physical fitness are Zhang Yuning's advantages.
The natural advantage of the national football team against Southeast Asian teams must be the pressure of high and high, Zhang Yuning, Xie Weijun and others have a place to play. Midfielder Xie Pengfei has gradually grown into the core of the national football team's offensive organization, and with Dai Weijun and Li Ke exercising and recovering more in the league, compared with the national team at the beginning of the season, this team should be more mature, systematic, and younger!
Since Jankovic led the team, the national football team seems to be not very good at the connection from defense to attack, and often sees the ball eventually fall back to the backcourt to deal with it. Tonight against the Thai team, if the ground advance is still difficult, quickly pick up the "old business" against the Southeast Asian team - header smashing! Fight for the second place in the group, home and away against the Thai team is the key!
I wish the national football team a good start to the World Preliminaries!