There are still 2 days left until the Asian round of 18 World Cup qualifiers between the Chinese men's football team and Indonesia on October 15. Unexpectedly, the Indonesian team was the first to arrive at the competition city of Qingdao, China at around 18:00 this afternoon, while the Chinese team playing at home returned from Australia and is expected to arrive in Qingdao at around 24:00 tonight, 5-6 hours later than the Indonesian team.
The president of the Indonesian Football Association, Tohir, who accompanied the Indonesian team, was interviewed by local Chinese media at the airport. In the interview, Tohir said domineeringly that in this qualifiers, whether it is home or away against the Chinese team, the goal of the Indonesian team is to win the game, and the two duels are bound to score 6 points from the Chinese team.
In addition to saying that he wanted to score 6 points against China, he also said: "Defeating the Chinese team and getting 6 points is just the basic goal, and Indonesia's ultimate goal is to qualify directly from the group and get a direct ticket to the final of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico." The team's coaching staff has developed a detailed plan for qualifying for the tournament, which we are working on as we look to follow Japan and qualify directly for the World Cup in second place in Group C. Our coach thinks it will take around 15 points to finish second in the group, and we now have three, so getting six points from China will help us reach our goal faster. ”
I have to say that Tohir is still very arrogant, and he still wins all the games in China. However, the Indonesian team now seems to have arrogant strength in the face of the weak Chinese team, with a large number of naturalized players joining, the number of naturalized players in the squad for China this time has reached a staggering 13. The strength of the team is not what it used to be, and the overall improvement at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends has been great. In the first three rounds of the round of 18, Indonesia drew with Australia, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and played against Bahrain, if the referee is more fair and does not give Bahrain at home a long full-time stoppage time, Indonesia is now 5 points in hand, and it is really not a fantasy to get 15 points from its desire to qualify.
On the other hand, the Chinese team suffered three consecutive defeats in the first three games, scored 2 goals and conceded 12 goals, and was ruthlessly ridiculed by the Indonesian team as a goal difference warehouse, allowing the opponent to take what they wanted. The Indonesian team's mockery and humiliation are very strong, and the Chinese team, which has lost 3 consecutive games, now has no way out, facing the once weak team and the defeated Indonesian team in the 4th round, if the Chinese team still can't succeed in scoring points, the 4 consecutive defeats basically indicate that the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup will be abandoned in advance. I hope that the international players who eat sea cucumbers can fight for a breath!
Can the Chinese team playing at home in this round successfully defend their home stadium and win the Indonesian team? What do you think?