1-1! The World Preliminary Tournament is now in the Super Group of Death: The second Asian Cup is facing out, and the Taiwanese are rivals or counterattacks
Unconsciously, the round of 36 in the Asian region of the World Preliminary Championship has reached the final stage, and the teams that have advanced to the top 18 have also been produced one after another. In this World Preliminary Tournament, a super group of death was born, and the Jordan team, which won the runner-up in the Asian Cup not long ago, may even be eliminated in the round of 36!
This recognized "group of death" is the Saudi Arabian team's Group G, which includes Jordan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. In fact, when the group draw was just released, not many fans paid attention to this group, because before that, the Tajikistan team has always been the underdog in Asian football, and if you only look at the strength on paper, then it seems that it is difficult for them to compete with the Saudi team and the Jordan team.
However, in the Asian Cup at the beginning of this year, the Tajikistan team, which participated for the first time, surprised the whole of Asia with its performance. In the group stage, they beat the Chinese team by 4 points, broke through from Group A without danger, and reached the round of 16. In the subsequent knockout round, the Tajikistan team eliminated the United Arab Emirates team through a penalty shootout, and the team participated in the Asian Cup for the first time in history, and entered the top 8! Although in the 1/4 finals, they lost to the Jordan team by 1 goal and unfortunately stopped, but the performance of the Tajikistan team still won the praise of countless fans, and everyone hoped that they could also usher in a breakthrough in the world preliminaries and enter the top 18!
However, in the third and fourth rounds of the World Preliminaries, Tajikistan's opponent was the No. 1 seed in the group, Saudi Arabia, and in the first game of the two teams, the away Tajikistan team lost 0-1 to the opponent. But back at home, Tajikistan showed their tenacity, conceding a goal and relying on a frantic late comeback to draw 1-1 with Saudi Arabia and earn a valuable point. In another group of matchups in the same group, Jordan defeated Pakistan with a score of 3-0 and 7-0, and the ranking also temporarily overtook Tajikistan to the second place in the standings.
At present, the qualification situation of Group G is very clear, and the Saudi team has basically locked a place in qualifying, and Jordan and Tajikistan will compete for another ticket to the round of 18. In the next round, Jordan and Tajikistan will have a direct dialogue, and if Tajikistan can overturn their opponents away from home, then they can complete the counterattack and end the Jordanians' World Cup dream ahead of schedule. If the two teams draw, they will need to see the result of the final round of matches, and if Jordan cannot score points against Saudi Arabia, then Tajikistan will still qualify for the last 18 if they beat Pakistan, the weakest team in the group.
The outstanding performance of the Tajikistan team is believed to make the Chinese men's football team feel ashamed. After all, in the Asian Cup, the national football team did not take advantage of them, and if we meet again in the subsequent round of 18, I am afraid it will still be difficult for us to win. Returning to the World Cup is still a distant dream!