The 2026 World Cup Qualifiers Asian Round of 18 is about to reopen, Beijing time on November 14, the 5th round of the round of 18 will be fully launched, as the strongest team in Asia, Japan, will be a guest against Southeast Asian fish belly Indonesia, winning is not a big problem, then Japan will expand its lead, lay a solid foundation for early promotion. On the other hand, the Chinese men's football team will fight for a play-off spot.
The Japanese team is now ranked 15th in the world, which is the highest world ranking in the history of Asian football, but the goal of the Japanese team does not stop there, the slogan shouted by the Japanese Football Association is to win the World Cup in 2050, so the Japanese team's mind is no longer in Asian football, the world preliminaries, Japan is just going through the motions, in the face of these Asian teams, the Japanese team is not worried about the promotion quota, the past 7 World Cup qualifiers, Japan has successfully passed.
In Group C, Japan and Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Indonesia and the Chinese men's football team are in the same group, in the first four rounds, Japan team has an unbeaten record of 3 wins and 1 draw, 10 points to the top of the group, and 5 points ahead of the second-ranked Australia, the advantage is obvious. The opponent of the Japanese team in this round is Indonesia, the sixth team in the group, although Indonesia has a number of naturalized players, but the strength is still at an absolute disadvantage compared with Japan, the main players in the Japanese team are all from the five major European leagues, and the strength is compared, Japan crushes Indonesia.
In recent years, the Indonesian team has developed a comprehensive naturalization policy, from the Eredivisie, the United States Professional League, etc., looking for players of Indonesian descent and naturalization, and now the Indonesian team has more than a dozen naturalized players, and can discharge a full naturalized player lineup to play, in the first three rounds, Indonesia drew Saudi Arabia, Australia and Bahrain, but lost in the face of the Chinese men's football team, it can be seen that Indonesia's naturalization policy has insufficient run-in, the shortcomings of the three armies are not enough, and now meet the first Japanese team in Asia, a fiasco is inevitable.
The most beneficial thing for the national football team is that the Japanese team can beat Indonesia away from home, thus erasing the disadvantage of the national football team's goal difference, the national football team lost 0-7 against Japan, so the national football team hopes that Japan can beat Indonesia with a score of 7-0 or more, so that the national football team will get rid of the bottom position, and suppress Indonesia on goal difference. In the Asian Cup at the beginning of this year, Japan defeated Indonesia 3-1, and in the history of the two teams, Japan has won many 5-0 and 5-1 victories, which can be said to be a dimensionality reduction blow.
Japan beat Indonesia to reach 13 points, while the other two matchups in this round are Australia at home against Saudi Arabia and the national football team away to Bahrain. Australia and Saudi Arabia are tied on points, with both teams tied on five points. According to the head-to-head record, Australia is very likely to be unbeaten at home, Saudi Arabia has just changed its coach and needs some time to get back on track, so Japan will be 8 points ahead of the third place, and the advantage will continue to expand.
For the Chinese men's football team, this round of away games against Bahrain is a rare opportunity to reverse the decline, the national football team suffered three consecutive defeats in the first three rounds, but the opponent is the strongest three teams in the group, for the national football team that aims to fight for four, these three defeats are irrelevant, the main opponents are Bahrain and Indonesia, the national football team defeated Indonesia in the last round, has achieved the first small goal, and now facing Bahrain is the second small goal that must be won, as long as the national football team beats Bahrain, the points will reach 6 points, and the guaranteed ranking will surpass Bahrain ranked 4th, In extreme cases, it will rise to 3rd place, and the situation of promotion will be reversed.