On June 27, Beijing time, the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, announced that the Chinese men's football team in the round of 18 was assigned to Group C, in the same group as Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia.
According to the rules of the tournament, the top two teams in the three groups of ABC will directly receive tickets to the World Cup finals, while the third and fourth places in the three groups are also 6 teams that will enter the next stage of competition, they will be divided into two groups to play a single round-robin match at a neutral venue, the top 2 teams will also get World Cup tickets, and the second place in the two groups will enter the play-offs.
Truth be told, with the current strength of the Chinese men's football team, the chances of beating Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia are slim, but there are still games against Bahrain and Indonesia, so we must pragmatically aim for a top-four finish.
Looking back at the previous two World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese men's football team reached the top 12, but the results were not satisfactory, and they were only ranked 5th in the group, that is, the penultimate second.
The 2026 World Cup will be expanded to 8.5 places in Asia, and our goal is simple:
First of all, it is hoped that the Chinese men's football team will play extraordinarily, hoping to squeeze out two teams in Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia to qualify for direct qualification.
In recent games, the national football team has drawn 0-0 away from Japan in 2022, and in 2021, it was a 1-1 draw at home to Australia, and Saudi Arabia was also forced to draw 1-1 at home by the national football team in 2022.
This also means that the national football team may not have the absolute strength to defeat the above three teams, but it is no problem to take points from them to disrupt the situation.
Secondly, it doesn't matter if the national football team can't occupy the top two places in the group, then they must do their best and get 12 points against Bahrain and Indonesia to occupy the fourth place in the group.
In the end, the national football team has a total of 5 opponents in the next round of 18, and at least 10 games will be played, as long as we can beat Bahrain and Indonesia, and strive to maintain the top four positions in the group when facing Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia, or even a draw with the opponent, so as to retain the hope of qualifying for the World Cup, and there will even be surprises.