In half a month, the much-anticipated Asian Cup will officially kick off, and 24 teams will go all out for the final Gold Cup. In the Asian Cup group draw, the Chinese team was a little unlucky, we were divided into the host Qatar team in Group A, the same group also includes Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon, and these two teams, but not a good stubble, the national football team wants to break through smoothly, it must not be too easy.
In Group A, the lowest-ranked team in the world is Lebanon, which is ranked 107th according to the latest FIFA statistics, and only 20th in Asia. Although the ranking is not very high, the strength of the Lebanese team should not be underestimated. In the last World Cup qualifiers, the Lebanese team had an upset and defeated a number of Asian powerhouses and reached the final round of 12. They also beat Syria away in the round of 12 and drew twice with former Asian champions Iraq.
But after the round of 12, Lebanese football began to slide like a roller coaster. In the round of 36 of the World Cup qualifiers last month, the Lebanese team was forced to draw 1-1 by the fish belly team Bangladesh, which was the biggest upset since the start of the World Preliminary Tournament. After this humiliating draw, the Lebanese Football Federation, which could not bear it, immediately fired Croatian coach Jurčević and brought back the team's meritorious coach Radulovic. At this time, only two months have passed since Yurcevich took office.
Radulovic's return also immediately made a 180-degree turn for the Lebanese team. Not long ago, Lebanon and Asian powerhouse Jordan played a warm-up match, although in the opening three minutes, Jordan took the lead to break the deadlock and take a 1-0 lead. However, the Lebanese fought back frantically after that, and midfielder Haider volleyed home to make it 1-1 before half-time. Just when everyone thought the game was about to end in a draw, Lebanese substitute striker Sade stepped up and burst into the box with the ball to cause a foul, and the referee blew the whistle for a penalty. Centre-back Mansoor converted the penalty to help Lebanon finish in the final moments to beat Jordan 2-1 and end 2023 with a victory.
And the Lebanese team's reversal and defeat also gave the Chinese men's football team a wake-up call. In this group, no team is a weak team, even if their world ranking is not as good as the Chinese team, they definitely have the strength to upset the Chinese men's football team. In every group stage of the Asian Cup, the Chinese team must do its best to be able to defeat the opponent.