At 20:00 on the evening of October 15, Beijing, the top 18 of the third stage of the Asian region of the World Preliminary Championships will rekindle the fire. The national football team will host Qingdao against the fourth round opponent Indonesia. Due to three consecutive defeats in the first three rounds of the group stage, they are at the bottom of the group. The national football team urgently needs a win to boost morale, get rid of the embarrassment of being at the bottom of the group, and continue to maintain the hope of hitting the top 4 in the group.
The three games in the group stage of the national football team lost to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia, which also made the outside world's confidence in the national football team fall to a historical freezing point. The pressure of public opinion also makes Ivan and the national football players urgently need to reawaken the confidence of the Chinese people in the rise of Chinese football through the victory at home. Whether the national football team can regain the courage to die and survive on the verge of elimination, all the answers will be revealed tomorrow night.
According to statistics, the Chinese team and the Indonesian team have played each other 14 times in history, and the national team has an overwhelming advantage of 10 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. The only defeat was 67 years ago in the 1957 World Preliminary Championships, when China lost 2-0 in Jakarta. However, this game is old and does not have any reference value. The last meeting between the two sides was on 15 November 2013 in the Asian Cup qualifiers, when China won 1-0 and the goal was scored by the captain of the national football team, Wu Lei.
The national football team is currently ranked 91st in the world, while the Indonesian team is only ranked 129th. Therefore, judging from the historical record of the two sides or the current world ranking, the national football team is in an overwhelming advantage. But in fact, the strength of the Indonesian team participating in this World Preliminary Tournament has changed dramatically. Because under the strong promotion of the Indonesian Football Association, the Indonesian team has naturalized as many as 13 naturalized players from European countries such as Netherlands with Indonesian roots. And these players are all in their playing years, and some of them are in the main team in the Europa League. This has undoubtedly added a lot of uncertainties to the life-and-death battle of the national football team.
The Indonesian team suffered three consecutive draws in three games, which shows that the strength of the Indonesian team, which has many naturalized players to help, has improved significantly. However, in this round against the Indonesian team in the sixth pot of the group, the goal of the national football team is to win all three points. After all, as a "nouveau riche", the Indonesian team's comprehensive strength is still inferior to several opponents in the first three rounds of the national football team, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia. They are all recognised powerhouses in Asia and have been regulars in recent World Cups. It is also reasonable for the national football team to lose to them.
According to the latest news, since the CCTV sports channel still does not arrange the live broadcast of this game, it is still necessary to watch this game in the paid mode of a certain platform. However, due to the fact that this game is played at the home of the Chinese team, compared with the away game against Australia in the previous round, the live broadcast time has changed, and it will start at 20 o'clock in prime time tomorrow night.
According to the training situation in the last two days, although Wu Lei and Alan returned after Fernando left the team due to injury, their bodies are not in the best condition, and they will most likely play as substitutes. In addition, Gao Zhunyi and Xie Wenneng have fully recovered and participated in the team's joint training, so it is very likely that they will start tomorrow night.
To sum up, the expected starting 11 of the national football team are:
Goalkeeper: Wang Dalei
Defenders: Gao Zhunyi, Jiang Guangtai, Jiang Shenglong, Li Lei
Midfielders: Wei Shihao, Wang Shangyuan, Li Yuanyi, Xie Wenneng
Forwards: Zhang Yuning, Bai Helamu