2-1, 6-1! The World Preliminary Tournament Gives Birth to a Dark Horse: Asia's 15th Outbreak Overthrows the Asian Cup Runner-up = Advance
The 2026 World Cup will be held jointly in the United States, Canada and Mexico, FIFA has expanded its army, from the original 32 teams to 48 teams to participate in the World Cup, and the number of qualifying places in Asia has increased from the original 4.5 to 8.5, which is good news for the national football team, and the Chinese men's football team has the opportunity to hit the World Cup finals again. In addition to the traditional first-class teams in Asia, second-rate teams such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Uzbekistan are all salivating for promotion places, and the competition for the national football team is more intense.
At the beginning of the year, a number of dark horse teams emerged in the Asian Cup, Jordan eliminated strong opponents all the way to the final, Qatar successfully defended the championship, and many teams were upset in the group stage, such as Malaysia drew with South Korea, Thailand drew with Saudi Arabia, Iraq defeated Japan, etc. Among them, Tajikistan, ranked 99th in the world, counterattacked and reached the quarterfinals, which surprised fans the most. In the group stage, the Chinese men's football team and Tajikistan were in the same group, and finally Tajikistan beat the national football team to advance to the knockout round and eliminated the United Arab Emirates, reaching the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup for the first time in history.
Tajikistan's magic continues, in the world preliminaries, Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan are in the same group, in this group, there are World Cup regulars Saudi Arabia, there is the new Asian Cup runner-up Jordan team, but Tajikistan won 1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss after 4 rounds, and ranked 3rd in the group with 5 points, only 2 points behind the Jordan team, and has a slight advantage in the schedule, and has a chance to overtake the Jordanian team to get a place to advance to the round of 18.
Tajikistan drew 1-1 at home to Jordan in the first round of the World Championships, with Jordan equalising the game in the final stages of stoppage time. In the second round, Tajikistan defeated Pakistan 6-1 away to achieve its first victory. In the back-to-back two-legged home and away games against Saudi Arabia in March, Tajikistan performed eye-catchingly, losing only 0-1 away, but back at home, Tajikistan drew with a goal from Soylov in the 80th minute, grabbed a crucial point, and retained their hopes of advancing from the group.
Judging from the current promotion situation of Group G, the seeded Saudi Arabia team only needs to score one more point in the next round to advance to the round of 18. The remaining qualification spot will be between Jordan and Tajikistan. Jordan are runners-up in the Asian Cup, but their path to group qualification is not easy, with Jordan currently just two points ahead of Tajikistan, who will play Tajikistan directly at home on June 6. The outcome of this game will have a direct impact on the prospects of both teams qualifying, with Jordan taking the initiative and a win over Tajikistan will advance to the tournament, but losing will be eliminated. If the two teams draw, it will depend on the result of the final round.
Jordan will face Saudi Arabia away in the final round, while Tajikistan will play Pakistan at home. Jordan's draw with Saudi Arabia will bring the points to nine points, and Jordan's goal difference is eight. Tajikistan's goal difference is 4, the final round of a big score victory over Pakistan is a high probability, the final two teams will be equal to 9 points, when comparing the goal difference, Tajikistan only needs to beat Pakistan with a score of 5-0 and above, will beat Jordan to advance to the round of 18.
In contrast, the Chinese men's football team is not as good as Tajikistan in Group C, the current national football team is only 3 points ahead of the Thai team, in the home game on June 6, the Chinese men's football team must beat Thailand to be able to advance to advance, a draw or a loss will say goodbye to the 2026 World Cup.