In the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the results of the third phase of the draw were released, and the Chinese men's football team entered Group C with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia.
World Preliminary Round of 18 Group
The Chinese men's football team is in Group C, and the key opponents are Bahrain and Indonesia in terms of the goal of competing for fourth. While the 2-3 points against Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia will be the task, while the games against Bahrain and Indonesia will be crucial and will be key to a top-four finish. If the Chinese men's football team scores 8 points or more against Bahrain and Indonesia, it should not be a problem for the Chinese men's football team to hit the top four; If you get 6-8 points, then the situation is relatively unstable; If it's less than 6 points, then the top four are basically hopeless.
The matches against Bahrain were the fifth and tenth rounds respectively, and the national football team played in the mode of playing away first and then home; The matches against Indonesia were in the fourth and ninth rounds, and the national football team took home and away first. From this point of view, the fate of the national football team, Bahrain and Indonesia is basically decided in the last 2 rounds, and it is not excluded that the three teams will compare the goal difference in the end, and the national football team in the round of 36 will even be determined by comparing each other's records.
As for the specific schedule of the third stage, the schedule has been announced, and the specific kick-off time and place are waiting to be determined. The schedule is divided into five national team match cycles, including three cycles in September, October and November 2024 and two cycles in March and June 2025. Each cycle of the national football team is a model of first away and then home, and the specific arrangements for the five home games are still being implemented.
According to relevant reports, Beijing, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qingdao, Dalian, Xiamen, Changsha, Chongqing and Chengdu are all interested in hosting the national football world preliminaries. After all, many stadiums were built for the 2023 Asian Cup, but they were not used, and now it is not bad to use them in the World Preliminary Tournament.
Among the teams in the same group of the Chinese men's football team, 5 of them have entered the World Cup, the Japanese team has advanced 7 times, followed by Australia and Saudi Arabia have each qualified for the World Cup 6 times, the national football team and Indonesia have both qualified for the World Cup 1 time, and only Bahrain has not participated in the World Cup finals. In the entire Asian field, South Korea has participated in the World Cup the most times with 11 times, and Iran has also qualified from the Asian region with 6 times. In addition, the neighboring North Korean team has also qualified for the World Cup twice and has also reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
World Preliminary Round of 18 Schedule [Kick-off time to be determined]
Regarding the other two groups, North Korea and South Korea were unable to compete in the same group, so there was a lack of highlights, and fans expressed regret. Both teams will face the attack of Central and Western Asian teams, so it seems that the signing of the national football team is actually not bad, but the third gear is not good for Saudi Arabia. However, the other two teams in the third pot, Uzbekistan and Jordan, are not easy to deal with, and they are similar for the national football team.
Regarding the brief introduction of the rules of the World Preliminaries, the teams with the same score in the group directly compare the goal difference and the number of goals in turn, and then the points, goal difference and goals of each other's games. In the third stage, the top two teams in the group will directly qualify for the World Cup, and the third and fourth places will advance to the fourth stage, when the six teams will be divided into two groups for a single round-robin, with the top two teams going straight to the World Cup and the two groups second competing for state play-off qualification.