On June 27, Beijing time, the draw for the round of 18 of the 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers was held, and the national football team finally entered Group C, with opponents in the same group also including Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia. I have to say that this is definitely a signing. For the national football team, the luck of this draw is ridiculously bad, and basically the strongest teams in all grades have been drawn.
In this group, Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia are the best teams and if nothing else, they will occupy the top three. In the face of these three strong teams, the national football team has no ability to shake their position. Among them, the strength and technology of the Japanese team are the first in Asia, the Australian team has obvious physical advantages, and the Saudi team has no obvious shortcomings in body and technology.
According to the rules, the top two teams in the group qualify directly, and the third and fourth teams participate in the play-offs, when the six teams in the three groups are divided into two groups, the first place directly advances, and the second team in the two groups competes for the last 0.5 places. Our next goal is to compete for fourth place and get a place in the play-offs.
From the current point of view, the strength of the national football team (ranked 88th in the world) is not much behind the strength of the Bahrain team (ranked 81st in the world) and the Indonesian team (ranked 134th in the world), if they can beat these two opponents at home, try to fight for a draw away from home, and try to get eight points from four games, then there is hope of finishing fourth in the group. But it's easier said than done. You must know that in the Asian Cup in January this year, Bahrain and Indonesia both reached the round of 16, although they were finally eliminated by Japan and Australia, but the progress of these two teams is visible to the naked eye, and the next national football team must not take it lightly.
But we don't have to be presumptuous, there are still a few months left before the round of 18. Next, Ivankovic will go all out to run in the team, and he needs to find the most suitable tactics to fully exploit the abilities of Wu Lei, Fernando and Zhang Yuning. Only by allowing these core players to perform at their best can the national football team have hope in the round of 18. Although many people are not optimistic about the prospects of the national football team, there is never a shortage of miracles in football games, in case the national football team really wins the fourth place!