On the afternoon of June 27, Beijing time, the draw results for the third stage of the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Qualifiers, that is, the round of 18, were released.
China is in Group C as a Pot 5 team, alongside Japan (Pot 1), Australia (Pot 2), Saudi Arabia (Pot 3), Bahrain (Pot 4) and Indonesia (Pot 6).
The other two groups were:
Group A: Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea
Group B: Republic of Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait
At the end of the group, the schedule of the Chinese men's football team was also determined.
Whether it is from the perspective of strength comparison or from the perspective of schedule, the Chinese men's football team needs to be fully prepared to deal with difficulties and play every game as a final.
Regarding the grouping of the top 18 of the Asian preliminary round of the national football team, the national football coach Ivankovic admitted that compared with Group A and Group B, Group C is the most difficult group.
Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia have all played in the World Cup in Qatar, with both teams progressing from their group to the round of 16, while Saudi Arabia failed to qualify but upset eventual champions Argentina in the first round.
Singapore's international Sonny, who was once thanked by Chinese fans (he also saved Wu Lei's penalty in Singapore's 2-2 draw at home to the national football team), analyzed it this way:
Against Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia, they try to get 1 point in each game, and against Indonesia and Bahrain, they all get 3 points.
In this regard, we can only say, borrow your auspicious words!
Of course, the goal of finishing third or fourth in the group and reaching the next stage of qualifying must still be decided......
The Chinese women's volleyball team, which is about to participate in the Paris Olympics, is also under pressure to win.
According to the FIVB schedule for the Paris Olympics, the match starts on July 28, the second match day after the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, with Italy facing Dominica in Group C.
The first match of the Chinese women's volleyball team was against the United States women's volleyball team at 23 o'clock on July 29, Beijing time. In the second game of the group stage, the Chinese women's volleyball team will play against the host French women's volleyball team at 3 a.m. on August 2. The third game was against the Serbian women's volleyball team at 23 o'clock on August 4.
From the perspective of the Chinese women's volleyball team, the difficulty of the schedule is within the acceptable range, and the core point is to play the first game with the United States team.
Of the three opponents in the group stage, the French team is the weakest one, and the goal of the Chinese women's volleyball team is to score three to zero and three points.
Against the United States and Serbia, they are fighting for points and then for victory.
Comparing the United States, which has been playing cards, and Serbia, which has always hidden its strength, it is obvious that the American team is the focus of the victory.
During the Paris Olympic cycle, the Chinese women's volleyball team and the United States team have played three times so far, all in the World Women's Volleyball League.
In 2022, the Chinese women's volleyball team lost 0-3.
In the final game of the group stage of the 2023 World League, the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the opponent after five rounds of hard work after falling behind twice.
In the first week of this year's World League in Brazil, the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the opponent 3-1.
It can be said that the current Chinese women's volleyball team is not afraid of opponents psychologically, but in three encounters, the Chinese women's volleyball team lost the first game!
In the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team also kept the score tight in the first game with the United States team, and finally lost 27-29.
In fact, slow heating is a problem that the Chinese women's volleyball team must focus on. In the last two Olympics, the team has lost the first game. Even after winning the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a 3-2 defeat to the Netherlands in the first game made it too dangerous to qualify, and they met Brazil in the first round of the knockout round.
In the 13 matches of the World League this season, the Chinese women's team excluded the first game in the remaining 8 games, regardless of whether they won or lost, except for the 5 games that were 3-0 against South Korea, Thailand, Bulgaria, Germany and Poland.
After the Chinese women's volleyball team lost these 8 first games, 3 of them also lost to their opponents, and all 3 of them were lost within four games, and of the 5 games they recovered, only one of them was reversed against Turkey in five games.
When playing against opponents with similar strength, the Chinese women's volleyball team only played the same tenacity as before in the first match with Turkey this year, and the team's on-the-spot adjustment can also be called successful.
Those games that lost the first game and then won three games in a row seemed to be a "reversal", but in fact the first game itself played substandard, and the next three games just returned to normal.
In a state where the team has shown that it is slow to get into the form and adjust on the spot, under no circumstances should it replicate the pattern of conceding a game first and putting yourself in a disadvantageous position at the Olympics.
The second opponent of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the group stage is the French team, which qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time as the host, and has only participated in three World Championships in history, namely 7th in 1952, 12th in 1956 and 20th in 1974.
The French women's volleyball team is currently ranked 19th in the world, which is on par with Kenya, slightly higher than Bulgaria, and quite different from the German team.
Therefore, playing against the French team, winning 3-0 is the bottom line of results.
While preparing for the match with the French team, the Chinese women's volleyball team should also pay attention to the second round of the contest between the United States and Serbia.
In this game, the two teams that aim to top the group will not be retained, and it is also the last chance for the Chinese women's volleyball team to observe the real situation of the Serbian team.
In the third round of the group stage, the Chinese women's volleyball team will face the Serbian women's volleyball team.
Although the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the Serbian team with a substitute lineup in last year's Olympic preliminaries and this year's World League, it is impossible for the opponent to have reservations in the Olympic Games.
Because even if they have won two consecutive group stage games before, based on the rule that the quarterfinals of the knockout stage of this Olympic Games will be ranked first according to the results of the group stage, the Serbian team will do its best to fight for the best position.
In addition, a noteworthy issue is that the second round of the Serbian team against the United States team will be more than a day earlier than the Sino-French match, which means that when the two teams meet between China and Serbia, the Serbian team may be in better physical condition than the Chinese women's volleyball team.
Therefore, the quick resolution of the Sino-French battle and even the appropriate rotation of core players are also issues that the coaching staff should consider.
The volleyball competition at this Olympic Games has been changed from 12 teams divided into two groups to 12 teams divided into three groups, and the number of group games for each team has been changed from 5 to 3.
In the case of a single team, there is less competition, but there is less room for error.
Each team must be in the best shape from the beginning to fight for advancement, and the same is true for the Chinese women's volleyball team.