1-1, 0-3!World No. 101 upset: World preliminaries or reversal to qualify, the Chinese team draws = eliminated
The 2026 World Cup will be expanded to 48 teams, some fans believe that this is a reform made by FIFA in order to ensure that the national football team enters the World Cup finals, and the Asian region has obtained 8.5 promotion places, but in recent years, the football level of Asian countries has developed rapidly, and only the level of the national football team has stood still and has become a third-rate team in Asia, so there are still variables in the impact of the 2026 World Cup finals.
The 2026 World Preliminary Championship in Asia is divided into three stages, and the second stage is currently underway, that is, the round of 36, which will produce 18 teams to advance to the third stage and compete for 8.5 places to advance to the main tournament of the World Cup. In Group C, the Chinese men's football team is in the same group as South Korea, Thailand and Singapore, and the group that originally did not have the suspense of advancing has become suspenseful because of the outbreak of the Thai team.
The Thai team is currently ranked 101st in the world and 17th in Asia, but it is these Southeast Asian teams that have been ridiculed by domestic fans as third-rate in the past have put pressure on the Chinese men's football team to advance in the world preliminaries. In the first round, the Thai team sat at home against the Chinese men's football team, and the Thai team once took the lead in scoring and forced the Chinese team to a dead end.
In the second round, the Thai team played away against Singapore, the Thai team was stubbornly resisted by Singapore, the two teams drew 1-1 in the first half, and in the second half, Supana broke out and scored twice, and the Thai team defeated Singapore 3-1 and won the first victory of this World Preliminary Tournament. In the two-legged match against South Korea in March, it was difficult to compete with the South Korean team at the level of the Thai team, but it happened that the South Korean team changed coaches after the defeat in the Asian Cup, and the Thai team seized the opportunity to draw 1-1 with the South Korean team away from home and grabbed a life-saving point.
Although the Thai team lost 0-3 at home to the South Korean team in the second leg, after 4 rounds, the Thai team accumulated 4 points and ranked third in the group, only 3 points behind the second-ranked Chinese team, which makes the Sino-Thai battle on June 6 particularly important, the Thai team only needs a draw to be able to grasp the initiative to advance to the group, because the Thai team's opponent in the last round is Singapore, and the opponent of the Chinese team is the South Korean team, the Thai team has every chance to get 8 points after the 6 rounds and get enough goal difference.
Although the Chinese men's football team is now 3 points ahead of the Thai team, but the promotion is not ten lives and nine stable, in the battle between China and Thailand, the Chinese men's football team must defeat the Thai team to grasp the initiative to advance, only to take all three points, by then the Chinese team will be able to accumulate 10 points to advance to the round of promotion, but if the national football team draws with the Thai team, then the national football team will only have 8 points, and the final round must be scored in the away game against the South Korean team.
The Chinese team drew with Thailand, then the initiative to advance will not be in their own hands, the national football team has to look at the face of the South Korean team, and look forward to the South Korean team to release the water, because by that time, the South Korean team has advanced to the group in advance, but the South Korean team has the most prejudices against the Chinese team in Asia, probably because of self-esteem, the South Korean team has always regarded the Chinese team as an opponent, if it can step on China, it will definitely not release the water.
In this way, the Chinese team may end up with only 8 points, and the Thai team will also reach 8 points after the final round of the big score victory over Singapore, according to the rules, the two teams are more goal difference, and the Thai team's big score victory over Singapore is a high probability thing, and the national football team is very likely to lose miserably, and finally the Chinese team will be eliminated by Thailand because of the goal difference.