There is only a little more than a week left before the opening of the 2024 Asian Cup, and the preparation of each participating team has officially entered the countdown. Not long ago, the Hong Kong, China team and the Tajikistan team played a warm-up match, and the result of the game may make the players of the Chinese team feel a little nervous.
I believe many people have heard that in a warm-up match held earlier, the Chinese men's football team humiliatingly lost 1-2 to the Hong Kong, China team, and at the beginning of 2024, it gave fans across the country a "surprise"! And a few days after the end of the match with the Chinese team, the Hong Kong, China team ushered in the match with the Tajikistan team non-stop. In the latest FIFA rankings, Tajikistan is ranked 106th and 19th in Asia. Hong Kong, on the other hand, are the underdogs of Asia at 150th, but their ability to beat 79th-ranked China in a friendly proved that they are not to be underestimated.
Due to the imminent start of the Asian Cup, for confidentiality reasons, the match between Hong Kong, China and Tajikistan is still held in closed conditions, so we naturally have no way of knowing the details of the game. However, according to the official report of the Tajikistan Football Association, in the first half of the game, the two teams played a stalemate, with each side scoring one goal and the battle ended 1-1. After the rematch, Tajikistan's 22-year-old young striker Samyev scored another goal for the team, and finally the Tajikistan team defeated Hong Kong, China 2-1 and successfully achieved its first victory in 2024!
The Hong Kong team, which is actively warming up for the Asian Cup, has also become a very obvious reference between the strength of the Chinese men's football team and the Tajikistan men's football team. Although the scores of the two teams and Hong Kong, China were both 2-1, the Chinese team lost 1-2, and the Tajikistan team won 2-1. In the air comparison, the Chinese men's football team undoubtedly suffered a complete defeat, we can't even beat the Hong Kong team, how can we talk about winning the stronger Tajikistan team?
According to the schedule, the first game of the Chinese team in the Asian Cup happened to be the Tajikistan team. For the Chinese men's football team, this opening game is almost equivalent to the team's life-and-death battle for qualifying, only by snatching 3 points from the opponent, we can grasp the initiative to qualify, once the draw or upset loss to the opponent, the national football team is likely to stop in the group stage in advance, and become a spectator of the Asian Cup early.
Although the loss to the Hong Kong, China team made the Chinese men's football team lose face, it was a friendly match after all. I hope that in the Asian Cup, the national football team can find the feeling of winning as soon as possible and strive to go further!