Despite the fact that the Chinese national team has repeatedly slipped down the rankings in Asia, currently ranking only 11th in Asia, the Chinese team has completely the upper hand in the six meetings with the Maldives. The team scored 28 goals and conceded just one. Among them, during Milutinovic's coaching of the national football team, the Chinese team swept the opponent 1-0 away and 10-1 at home. One game is the smallest win and the other is the biggest win but conceded a goal. Next, let's review the head-to-head record between the Chinese team and the Maldives team.
In the 2001 World Preliminary Championships, the Maldives almost ended the magical journey of the magical manager
In the 2001 World Preliminary Tournament, the Chinese team defeated the Maldives team 1-0 away and 10-1 at home. Although the Chinese team "double-killed" the opponent at home and away as desired, the performance of the national football team caused dissatisfaction among fans. Some fans even believe that with the state of the national football team at that time, even if South Korea and Japan are the hosts, the Chinese team will not be able to realize its dream of the World Cup. At that time, the leadership of the Football Association also had a plan to replace Milutinovic with Shen Xiangfu as the head coach, but in the end, the senior management of the Football Association decided to continue to trust Milutinovic. This is the only correct decision made by Chinese football in the entire process of impacting the World Cup. In the end, the national football team entered the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup as expected.
From 2016 to 2021, the Chinese team won all 4 meetings
From 2016 to 2019, the national football team defeated the Maldives team 3-0 and 4-0 respectively. In the last two encounters, the national football team relied on the close cooperation of naturalized international players and local players to sweep the opponent 5-0. In the 6 meetings, the national football team has completed the goal of "killing horses", scoring 28 goals and conceding only 1 goal.
It is hoped that in the future, Chinese football can gradually improve its strength, not only in the game against the Maldives, but also in the game against Uzbekistan, and even Iran, Japan, South Korea.