Group of Death! World Preliminary Round of 18 Draw: The national football team met Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Australia

Modern Express

2024-06-27 19:48Official account of Jiangsu Modern Express Media Co., Ltd

Although no matter which group you are assigned to, it is a group of death, but the result is indeed too "dead"! On the afternoon of June 27, the draw ceremony for the round of 18 of the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Asian Cup Qualifiers was held in Kuala Lumpur, and the Chinese men's football team participated in the draw as the fifth pot. In the end, the national football team was placed in Group C, alongside Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia. Among the top three teams, the national football team drew the strongest team in each bracket, and the C group was a well-deserved group of death in the three groups. Even when Shinji Okazaki, the guest of the draw, was the last to draw his country's Japanese team and settle in Group C, his expression was very solemn.

The strongest team is drawn in almost every bracket

According to the pre-set rules, the 18 teams in this draw will be placed in three groups of six teams each. According to the Asian ranking before the draw, the top three teams are in the first pot, and they are in three groups, and so on, and the national football team is in the fifth pot to participate in the draw.

The draw started from the sixth pot, the "Mysterious Division" North Korea team was placed in Group A, and in theory, Kuwait, a relatively weak team in this bracket, went to Group B, and Indonesia came to Group C. During the fifth draw, the Chinese team was divided into Group C, and the head coach of the national football team, Ivankovic, who watched the draw on the spot, smiled and shook hands with the staff next to him, and seemed to be satisfied with the draw against Indonesia. In the next fourth draw, the national football team is still lucky, compared to the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Bahrain is the relatively weak one in this gear. Of course, when the representatives of the Bahrain national team were shown in the camera, the three of them also had smiles on their faces, and they seemed to be more satisfied with the Chinese men's football team.

When it came to the first three draws, the luck of the national football team was not so good. Although Jordan is the new runner-up of the Asian Cup and Uzbekistan is also very difficult to play, the Saudi Arabian team, which defeated Argentina in the World Cup, is undoubtedly the most difficult to play. Among the teams in the second pot, only Australia fell into the second pot of "Japan, South Korea, Iran and Australia", and it also came to Group C. Among the teams in Pot 1, Japan, ranked 17th in the world and No. 1 in Asia, was placed in Group C, which confirmed the position of the Group of Death.

Fighting for fourth place is a more realistic goal

According to the schedule and rules of the round of 18, the six teams in each group will play home and away matches from September this year to June next year. The top two teams from each group advance directly to the 2026 World Cup, with the third and fourth teams from each of the three groups advancing to Stage 4. In the fourth stage, the six teams will be divided into two groups of three teams each, with the top team advancing to the World Cup, with the second-placed team competing for a place in the intercontinental play-offs in November 2025.

For the national football team, no matter which group it is in, it is undoubtedly impossible to win the top two, and the more realistic idea is to compete for the third and fourth place and enter the next stage of the competition. From this point of view, it may be a good thing for the national football team to draw the weakest team in the fourth pot. Of course, for many more rational fans, the round of 18 is our World Cup, and the national football team, which is currently ranked 88th in the world and 13th in Asia, has no absolute chance of winning any of the top 18. As long as you can play with your attitude and spirit, you will be considered successful, and if you can finally make it to the top four, it may have exceeded the expectations of many fans.

According to the schedule, the national football team will first play away against Japan on September 5 this year, followed by Saudi Arabia and Australia. Such a schedule can be described as the death schedule of the group of death, and the beginning is a lightning strike. Next, the national football team will face Indonesia and Bahrain, which are weaker overall. The national football team, which escaped death from the previous stage and entered the top 18, ushered in its own "World Cup".

Attached to the top 18 groups

Group A: Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea

Group B: Republic of Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait

Group C: Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China, Indonesia

National Football Top 18 Schedule

First round: September 5, 2024 Japan vs China

Second round: September 10, 2024 China vs Saudi Arabia

Third round: October 10, 2024 Australia vs China

Fourth round: October 15, 2024 China vs Indonesia

Fifth round: November 14, 2024 Bahrain vs China

Sixth round: November 19, 2024 China vs Japan

Round 7: March 20, 2025 Saudi Arabia vs China

Round 8: March 25, 2025 China vs Australia

Round 9: June 5, 2025 Indonesia vs China

Round 10: June 10, 2025 China vs Bahrain

Modern Express/Hyundai+ reporter Wang Wei

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