Saudi Arabia won 2 consecutive victories, locked the round of 18, Wu Lei was suspended, and Fernando Alan was reused
The 2026 World Preliminary Championship Asian Round of 36 ended 4 rounds of competition, the top Asian teams have advanced to the round of 18, Group C of the Chinese men's football team after defeating Singapore, the initiative to advance firmly in their own hands, after this month's international break, the World Preliminary Tournament has come to an end, Beijing time on June 6 at 19 o'clock in the evening, in the 5th round of the World Preliminary Championship, the Chinese men's football team will sit at home to face the Thai team, the national football team must win this game in order to lock the qualification for the round of 18.
At present, in the standings of Group C, the South Korean team ranks first in the group with 10 points, basically locking a group qualifying place, the Chinese men's football team ranks second in the group with 7 points, the Thai team ranks third in the group with 4 points, and the Singapore team ranks at the bottom with 1 point and was eliminated in advance. According to the AFC's points rules, in the case of the same score, the goal difference of the national football team is 1, and the goal difference of the Thai team is -2, so the national football team must take all three points in the Sino-Thai battle, otherwise the promotion will be suspended.
In the Asian Cup, the Chinese men's football team did not score a goal, did not win, and ended the Asian Cup in a shameful way, Jankovic resigned after the Asian Cup, Ivankovic took office, in a hurry, Ivankovic led the national football team to participate in two world preliminaries, these two are home and away two-legged to face the Singapore team, and the national football team has won one win and one draw, because Ivan has only been in office for less than half a month, so the fans are more tolerant of the results of the Yi family, and basically agree with Ivankovic's coaching, there are still more than two months before the next world preliminaries, leaving Ivan with plenty of time。
Ivankovic can make full use of the time of these two friends to scout the players and implant his coaching philosophy and tactical style into the Chinese men's football team. Judging from the two games against Singapore, the offensive end of the Chinese men's football team still relies on the veteran Wu Lei, Wu Lei scored 4 goals and had an assist in the game against Singapore, and is the current top scorer of the national football team, but due to Wu Lei's accumulation of two yellow cards, Wu Lei will be suspended for one game in the next round against the Thai team.
Wu Lei's suspension has a fatal impact on the offensive impact of the national football team, because there is no player in the current national football team who can replace Wu Lei's position, so Wu Lei's absence is a huge test for Ivankovic, after the game with Singapore, Ivan said in an interview that Wu Lei is an indispensable main force of the national football team, and now Wu Lei is suspended, the national football team should make up for the impact of Wu Lei's absence as a whole, and fans are generally worried that Wu Lei will not play, and the national football team will rely on who will score, because the national football team must score to defeat the Thai team.
Wu Lei was absent, Ivankovic first thought of naturalized players, Aikeson's competitive state was not enough to start, the two-legged game against Singapore, Aikesen only played 10 minutes, so in the next two months of the Chinese Super League, Aikesen must improve his physical fitness and competitive state, otherwise against Thailand, Aikesen will continue to sit on the bench.
Among the naturalized players, Fernando's form is very hot, in the second leg against Singapore, Fernando was active on the wing, broke through many times to create kills, and scored a goal in the game, so Fernando is the wing attacker that Ivankovic relies on, and Ivan will still reuse Fernando in the next World Preliminary Tournament. Forward naturalized player Alan was not selected for the current national team, Ivan has plenty of time to inspect Alain's performance in the future Chinese Super League, if Alan is in good shape, in the battle between China and Thailand, Alan can replace Wu Lei on the field for the national football team.