Entering the group of death is due to lack of strength, Ivan: I don't want the national football team to be just a passerby

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2024-06-28 08:44The Paper official account

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012026 draw for the top 18 of the Asian region of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico was released, and the Chinese team fell into the "group of death", which includes Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

02 head coach Ivankovic said that the national football team will take every game seriously, hoping to create surprises, and not just passers-by in the knockout stage.

03 Due to the decline in the FIFA rankings, the national football team can only be ranked in the fifth gear in this group, and it is difficult to score points in away games in the face of strong opponents.

04However, the national football team needs to get as many points as possible against Bahrain in Pot 4 and Indonesia in Pot 6 to finish fourth in the group stage.

05 Ivan emphasized that no matter which opponent it faces, the national football team must participate in the game with an optimistic attitude, go all out, and leave no regrets.

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At 3 p.m. Beijing time on June 27, the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Asian Top 18 was drawn in Kuala Lumpur. The Chinese team, which is in the fifth pot, fell into the "group of death" as expected, and the same group not only includes Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia, the three teams participating in the 2022 World Cup, but even the sixth pot team Indonesia has risen rapidly by relying on the naturalization army.

In the context of poor strength, in fact, for the national football team, no matter which opponents they encounter, it is the group of death, and the head coach Ivankovic who attended the draw ceremony said about the draw results, "First of all, we will take every game seriously and hope to create surprises, because we don't want to be just a passerby in the knockout stage." ”

Entering the group of death is due to lack of strength, Ivan: I don't want the national football team to be just a passerby

Asia slipped from 8th to 13th

In the past two top 12 matches, the Chinese team is ranked eighth in Asia, at that time under the top 12 competition system, the Chinese team fell into the group of death twice, the 2018 world preliminaries and South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Syria were in the same group, the national football team only got 1 point in the first 4 games to change the coach, the belt team got 11 points in 6 games, and the national football team finally ranked fifth with 12 points, but only 1 point behind Syria and Uzbekistan, and only 3 points behind South Korea.

In the last round of 12, the national football team and Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Vietnam were in a group, although Oman and Vietnam were not strong in theory, but Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Australia belonged to the top teams in Asia, and this group was not a good sign for the national football team, and the national football team finally ranked fifth with 1 win, 3 draws, 6 losses, and only 6 points, and lost the hope of qualifying early.

The World Cup was expanded to 48 teams, and the round of 12 also evolved into the round of 18, with one more group of 6 teams, but the national football team finally relied on Singapore to visit Thailand to resist desperately, and barely overwhelmed Thailand to qualify for the round of 18 by virtue of the relationship between victory and defeat, during this period, the FIFA ranking of the national football team slipped from 8th to 13th in Asia, and could only be ranked in the fifth pot, so it was logical to finally fall into the group of death again.

In the end, the national football team and Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia were in Group C, the last World Preliminary Tournament Asian Top 12, the Chinese team and Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia three teams in the same group, the Chinese team and the three teams played 6 times, only forced to draw Saudi Arabia and Australia, got 2 points, faced the Japanese team suffered a double kill, away to Australia and Saudi Arabia both teams, both suffered a complete defeat. The neutral home team won two draws with two penalty kicks scored by Wu Lei and Zhu Chenjie.

Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia all had excellent performances at the World Cup in Qatar, with Japan and Australia both reaching the knockout rounds, while Saudi Arabia failed to qualify from the group stage but came back from behind to beat eventual World Cup champions Argentina 2-1. In terms of performance in recent years, Japan and Australia have maintained a high level, and Saudi Arabia has been affected by the domestic gold storm in the league, and the state of the international players has fluctuated, but in general, the overall strength of the top three teams is still too strong for the national football team, and it is difficult to score points in away games, and it is a more realistic goal to use home opportunities to fight for 1 to 3 points.

Match against teams in pot 4 or 6 to decide the position

Although there are many fans who don't pay much attention to the national football team and still think that striving to enter the World Cup is a goal that can be strived for, as far as the vast majority of insiders are concerned, striving for the fourth place in the group stage and striving to qualify for the first stage of the play-offs is a more practical goal for the national football team. To accomplish this, the national team will need to pick up as many points as possible against Pot 4 (Bahrain) and Pot 6 (Indonesia).

The Bahrain team and the Chinese team have faced each other 7 times in history, and the national football team has won 3 and drawn 4, remaining undefeated. The overall strength of the opponent is between the Chinese team, and in the round of 36, Bahrain is in the same group as the United Arab Emirates, Nepal and Yemen, with Bahrain losing 0-2 at home to the UAE and drawing 1-1 away from the UAE. In the Asian Cup in January, Bahrain played well, losing 1-3 to South Korea, Malaysia 1-0, and Jordan 1-0, and successfully qualified from the group. In the first round of the knockout round, they lost 1-3 to Japan and were eliminated from the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup.

China and India have met 13 times in history, the Chinese team has 9 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, occupying an absolute advantage, the only time the Chinese team has qualified for the World Cup, the national football team led by Milu has beaten Indonesia home and away in the qualifying stage. However, in recent years, the Indonesian team has been a large number of naturalized Dutch-Indonesian descendants, and the overall strength has been significantly improved, and many players in the team are currently playing in the Eredivisie, and in the Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, Indonesia defeated Vietnam 1-0 and successfully advanced to the round of 16, but in the quarterfinals, it was eliminated by Australia 4-0. In the round of 36, Indonesia defeated Vietnam to advance, and the home game against Iraq was also difficult to solve with the opponent, although the team ranked sixth, but the overall strength was much higher than this.

For China, to finish fourth, they need to get at least eight points from four games against Bahrain and Indonesia, which is not an easy thing to do.

Go all out and leave no regrets

The draw for the round of 18, the national football coach Ivankovic went to Kuala Lumpur from Croatia to participate, and the experienced Ivan was not surprised by the final result, "First of all, I am very happy to be here, as one of the top 18 teams in Asia. As a Pot 5 team, we know we're going to face some big teams, and as a result, we're in arguably the strongest group. Ivan admits that as a team in Pot 5, it is not surprising to be in such a group.

"Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, they were all teams that played in the last World Cup and we know their quality. First of all, we take every game seriously and hopefully we can surprise because we don't want to be just a passerby in the knockout stages, we have to be competitive and we have to go into the game with optimism no matter who we face. ”

In the first match of the last World Preliminary Round of 12, Ivan led Oman to defeat Japan 1-0, and in the first game of the Round of 18, Ivan will lead the team to Japan again, Ivan stressed: "I must admit that our (Chinese team) is in a difficult competitive situation. But everything is ok. Of course, we have to give it our all. ”

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