In the World Cup qualifiers that ended today, the Chinese men's football team finally breathed a sigh of relief, which made the fans cheer.
The Chinese men's football team, which returned to its home stadium, was tied by lightning in the first half, and suddenly made a strong effort in the second half, and finally defeated Singapore 4-1 and ushered in the second victory of the group stage.
On the other hand, South Korea still did not release water, and defeated Thailand 3-0 away, which can be regarded as giving the Chinese men's football team a small assist.
So after 4 rounds of matches, what is the situation of the Chinese men's football team?
Strong start
In the first game of the group stage, the Chinese men's football team defeated Thailand 2-1 away, and won the most crucial victory in the group stage and made a good start.
The top 2 in the group can advance to the round of 18, due to South Korea's strong strength, promotion is inevitable, in fact, the biggest competitor of the Chinese men's football team is Thailand, as long as it beats Thailand, it can advance to the round of 18, so it is very important to defeat Thailand away from home.
Waterloo
Although the second home loss was to South Korea, it didn't matter and didn't affect the big picture.
However, the Chinese men's football team suffered a Waterloo in the away game against Singapore, and the Chinese men's football team was chased by Singapore by two goals in a row while leading 2-0 in that game, and finally only got one point away. To make matters worse, Thailand even got one point at home to South Korea, 1-1.
Although they are all 1 point, the Chinese men's football team got it on the head of the weak team, and Thailand got it on the head of South Korea, which has a completely different meaning.
非赢不可
Due to an unexpected draw by Singapore, after 3 rounds, the Chinese men's football team lost the initiative to qualify.
South Korea has 2 wins, 1 draw and 7 points, and the Chinese men's football team and Thailand are both 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss with 4 points, but Thailand has a goal difference of 1 and the Chinese men's football team has a goal difference of -2, so Thailand ranks 2nd and the Chinese men's football team ranks 3rd.
So in the fourth game against Singapore, the Chinese men's football team must not only win, but also win a few more goals, and at the same time hope that South Korea will not cause any more upsets.
Coming back strongly
Back at home, the Chinese men's football team finally defeated Singapore 4-1, in fact, this is just a guaranteed value.
In the other game, Thailand lost 0-3 at home to South Korea.
After 4 rounds, South Korea has 10 points from 3 wins and 1 draw, the Chinese men's football team has 7 points with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, with a goal difference of +1, and Thailand has 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses, with a goal difference of -2. At first glance, the Chinese men's football team has obvious advantages, but in fact it is not, there is still a crisis here.
crisis
In the last two games, the Chinese men's football team will play Thailand at home and South Korea away.
Since there is a high probability that the away game against South Korea will lose, and even the number of losses will be more than 1, and Thailand's last game against Singapore is also expected to get more than 2 goal difference, so the fifth game of the Chinese men's football team at home against Thailand is a must-win goal.
If the Chinese men's football team defeats Thailand at home, then 10 points will ensure that they beat Thailand and Singapore and lock in the qualification in advance.
If the Chinese men's football team loses to Thailand at home, then the two sides have the same points, and due to the situation mentioned earlier in the last game, the Chinese men's football team will basically not be able to suppress Thailand and can only go out of the group 3rd.
The most controversial thing is that the Chinese men's football team drew Thailand at home, which is actually very unfavorable, and there is a high probability that it will still be out. Because if the fifth game is drawn, then the Chinese men's football team is still 3 points ahead of Thailand and 3 goal difference ahead of Thailand.
However, if the Chinese men's football team loses 0-2 away to South Korea and Thailand defeats Singapore 2-0, then Thailand's goal difference will surpass the Chinese men's football team by 1, thus beating the Chinese men's football team to advance to the second place in the group. And with such a result, it is possible to qualify.
Coupled with the ban of Wu Lei and Li Yuanyi in the next game, it will be difficult for the Chinese men's football team to defeat Thailand at home, so the 4-1 victory over Singapore is really just a guarantee task, and it is not worth celebrating too much, because the next game is a real life and death battle, and it must be won.