Two consecutive draws are not the end of the world! The national football team can also qualify with 0 wins, knock the host to the death, and look forward to the whole Asian assist
A key battle in Group A of the Asian Cup ended not long ago, and the Chinese team, who dominated the game, still failed to score a goal, and they were forced to draw 0-0 by Lebanon, and the situation of qualifying from the group also took a sharp turn. However, the two consecutive draws are not the end of the national football team, in extreme cases, even if the national football team is winless, there is still a high probability of breaking through!
In this Asian Cup, the performance of the Chinese team undoubtedly disappointed many fans, facing the Tajikistan team in the first round of the group stage, the Chinese team struggled to draw 0-0 with the opponent, and only gained 1 point. Due to the failure to get off to a good start in the first round, the prospects of the Chinese team to qualify have also been cast a thick shadow, and the second round of the game against the Lebanese team has become an out-and-out battle of life and death, and only by snatching three points from the opponent can we control our own destiny. Once there is a draw or loss, the national football team's Asian Cup journey may have to come to an end after the group stage.
Compared with the first round of the game, head coach Jankovic made two changes to the lineup in this game, Zhang Yuning and Xu Xin replaced Tan Long and Wang Qiuming in the starting position, and Wei Shihao continued to be absent due to injury. These two substitutions did improve the Chinese team's scene a little, at least in the first half, we were no longer so embarrassed by the opponent's siege, and the midfield's passing and handling of the ball also had some cooperation.
Before the end of the half, the Chinese team created a threat through a cross from the side, and the opponent made a mistake in the penalty area, but unfortunately Zhang Yuning's two consecutive shots were defused by the opponent's goalkeeper. In the 64th minute, Dai Weijun's cross caused the opponent's goalkeeper to get out of his hand, and the ball rebounded impartially in front of Wu Lei, facing the perfect opportunity to hit the empty goal, Wu Lei, who was not ready, just lightly padd it with his feet, failed to hit the power, the ball was cleared by the opponent's back door before rolling into the goal, and the Chinese team missed the best opportunity to score the whole game! In the end, the Chinese team drew 0-0 with the opponent again, and gained 2 points in the two rounds of games, temporarily ranking second in Group A.
Although it is difficult to find a win in two rounds, it is still not the end for the Chinese team. In the final round of matches, if we can continue to draw with the host Qatar team, then the national football team will probably still be able to get a ticket to the round of 16, because after the expansion of the Asian Cup, the four best group thirds can also be successfully qualified. However, if we want to qualify for the third place in the group, the Chinese team also needs teams from all over Asia to send us "assists", that is, in the remaining five groups, at least 2 teams must have points and goal difference, which cannot exceed the Chinese team. Judging from the situation in the first round of matches, this goal is still easy to achieve, and the only thing that is more difficult to achieve is that the national football team draws Qatar.
The good news is that the hosts may have already qualified early by the start of the final round of matches, so in order to avoid injuries and yellow card suspensions, they may send some substitutes against the Chinese team, such as the team's attacking core Afif and top scorer Ali, who may be given the opportunity to rest. I hope that the national football team can play their best level in that game and fight for a ticket to the top 16!