At 3 p.m. on June 27, Beijing time, the draw for the top 18 of the World Preliminary Championship was held at the headquarters of the AFC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Chinese men's football team participated in the group draw as the fifth pot team. After the intense, exciting and suffocating selection of the guests on the spot, the top 18 finally settled in their respective positions and entered their respective groups.
Among them, the most concerned by the majority of Chinese fans is the draw of the national football team. In the end, China entered Group C, where they faced Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia. The results of the other two groups are: Group A: Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea. Group B: Republic of Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait.
In this regard, the outside world has mixed opinions about the results of the draw of the national football team. Most of the public opinion believes that the national football team was assigned to Group C this time can be called the group of death. Because the top three teams, whether it is Japan, Australia, or Saudi Arabia, are the strongest teams in each category. Needless to say, as a Japanese team representing the highest level of Asian football, the national football team can only look at it. The match against the Japanese team will be a completely different level of competition.
Australia, a team in Pot 2, have not missed the World Cup since joining the AFC. The physical strength and impact of the Australian kangaroos will be feared by the national football team. With the strength of the national football team, it will be difficult to resist the rough style of play of the Australians.
Saudi Arabia, as the representative team of West Asian football, they are also regular participants in the World Cup. Although the level of the Saudi team has declined slightly in recent years, their heritage is still there. And with the continuous development and change of West Asian football, the delicate passing style in the impression of the Saudi team has changed. A change in the attacking rhythm of European football. At present, the Saudi team retains the traditional delicate technical foundation, and the attack is more aggressive and impactful. Therefore, in the face of such a strong Saudi team, the national football team will be more unlucky against it.
To the relief of Chinese fans, the national football team avoided the United Arab Emirates and Oman, which were stronger in the fourth tier, and was in the same group as the relatively weak Bahrain. This is undoubtedly the easiest opponent for the national football team to score points in this group stage. Because even in the face of the Indonesian team in the sixth gear, with the current strength of the national football team, it may be difficult to withstand the crazy counterattack of the former Southeast Asian fish belly team. Because of the World Preliminary Tournament, the Indonesian Football Association launched the naturalization policy and recruited 12 naturalized players, including as many as 10 players who played in the European League. Therefore, facing such a large-scale mercenary team is undoubtedly a nightmare for the national football team.
Although the national football team was considered by the outside world to be drawn, the coach of the Chinese team, Ivankovic, who participated in the on-site draw, did not look very depressed. In the face of media interviews, he made a positive statement! Ivan said: "It is true that we (the Chinese team) have entered one of the most difficult groups, but I will still not change my optimistic and positive work attitude. We should give it our all as a team. ”
It can be seen from Ivan's statement that although the national football team did not have good luck this time. But as a fifth-tier team, the national football team still needs to be hard. No matter what kind of opponent you face, you still have to rely on your own efforts to fight the opponent.