For the first time, the 2026 World Cup will be expanded to 48 teams and will be co-hosted by three countries for the first time. One of the purposes of FIFA's reform is to expand the influence of the World Cup, and it is also hoped that China, which has the largest population in the world, can take this opportunity to enter the World Cup and maximize the benefits of the World Cup, and the national football team is also heading towards the round of 18. On June 6, Beijing time, the fifth round of the World Cup qualifiers will start, and the Chinese team will sit at home to face the Thai team, and CCTV will broadcast this focus game live.
In the round of 36 in the Asian region of the World Preliminaries, the Chinese team and the South Korean team, the Thai team and the Singapore team are in Group C, in this group, the South Korean team is the strongest, it is a first-class team in Asia, the gap between the Chinese team and the South Korean team is getting bigger and bigger, and it can no longer be compared with the South Korean team, Thailand and Singapore are teams in Southeast Asia, and they have always been third-rate teams, and the national football team should be able to occupy a place in the group to qualify.
The world preliminaries began, in the first two rounds, the Chinese team was led by Jankovic, and the first round challenged the Thai team away, and the Chinese team scored two goals in a row to complete the reversal and get off to a good start. In the second round, the national football team sat at home against the old rival South Korean team, and in this game, the national football team was completely suppressed by the South Korean team, and finally lost with a score of 0-3, setting the largest score difference loss in the history of China and South Korea. After the 2nd round of the World Preliminaries, the national football team ushered in the Qatar Asian Cup.
In the Qatar Asian Cup, Jankovic led the team to only 2 draws and 1 loss in the group stage, did not score a goal, and finally went out, setting the worst record of the Chinese men's football team in the Asian Cup. Ivankovic once coached Shandong Taishan in the Chinese Super League, and has coached in Oman and other national teams, in the last World Preliminaries, Ivankovic's Oman defeated Japan 1-0, and remained unbeaten in two legs against China.
In the 3rd and 4th rounds of the World Preliminaries, the Chinese team played back-to-back games against the weakest Singapore team in the group, and the Chinese team originally aimed to score 6 points in these two rounds, but Ivankovic's debut was away against Singapore, and the Chinese team was actually scored twice by the Singapore team in the case of a 2-goal lead, and finally drew 2-2 with Singapore and lost 2 points. After returning to their home stadium, the Chinese team swept the Singapore team 4-1.
After four rounds, the Chinese team ranks 2nd in Group C with 7 points, and the Thai team ranks 3rd with 4 points, and in the 5th round of the World Preliminaries, the Chinese team will directly clash with the Thai team, because the two teams are only 3 points apart, so the battle between China and Thailand, the Chinese team must take all three points to ensure the group performance, otherwise the promotion to the round of 18 will be suspended.
For the Chinese team, the biggest crisis is Wu Lei's absence, due to the accumulation of yellow cards, Wu Lei will be suspended in the battle between China and Thailand, you know, in the first four rounds of the world preliminaries, the Chinese team scored a total of 8 goals, of which 5 goals were scored by Wu Lei. Therefore, Wu Lei's suspension has a huge impact on the Chinese team's offense. Since the Chinese team must win Thailand at home, they need to score, and who can replace Wu Lei is the top priority for Ivankovic at the moment.
In the Chinese Super League, Wu Lei's state is very hot, scoring 12 goals in 10 appearances, and he is the No. 1 player in the Super League scorer list, and the nearest domestic player to Wu Lei is Wei Shihao, who only scored 4 goals. Originally, Ackerson was expected by the fans, but Ackerson's physical condition was not good, and Ivankovic was inspecting Alain, who may become Ivan's surprise soldier and replace Wu Lei in Thailand.