The round of 18 of the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Asian Qualifiers will officially kick off in September! For the Chinese national football team, whether it is the group or the schedule, it is a huge challenge for the Chinese national football team!
Let's talk about the grouping first, the Chinese national football team has once again entered the group of death. And it is very coincidental that the Japanese national football team, the Australian national football team, and the Saudi national football team are in the same group again after the last World Cup qualifiers. I can only say that I am unlucky, and I have stuffed my teeth when I drink water! In the face of such a grouping, coupled with the Bahrain national football team and the Indonesian national football team, it is undoubtedly difficult for the Chinese national football team to compete for the top two in the group to advance! In terms of schedule, the first three rounds of the Chinese national football team have all encountered strong opponents. In the first round, we challenged the first Japanese national football team in Asia, and in the third round, we faced off against the Australian national football team, which is the fourth in Asia, although we faced the Saudi Arabian national football team at home in the second round, but these three games were not easy! Next, let's focus on the matchup between our home team and the Saudi national football team! The game will be held on September 10 at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast live on CCTV5.
Historically, the Chinese national football team has played Saudi Arabia 14 times. 5 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses in the relationship between wins and losses! The most recent meeting was the second leg of the last World Cup qualifier round of 12. At that time, Li Tie was still the head coach. Because of the previous victory over the Vietnamese national football team, the Saudi national football team wants to continue the winning streak. Li Tie is still an old habit, and he did not arrange all naturalized players to play. In the first half, Wu Lei missed a single knife, and Saudi Arabia's national football team Naji scored twice. The Chinese national football team fell behind 0-2. Yibian fought again, and Li Tie replaced Luo Guofu and Alan. Just 20 seconds into the second half, two substitutes connected, Alan assisted Luo Guofu to score, and the national football team pulled back a goal. Ranburaihan's goal helped the Saudi national football team extend the score again. At the last moment, Wu Xi broke the goal, but in the end, the Chinese national team lost 2-3.
The most obvious change in the Chinese national football team is that there will be changes in naturalized players. During the round of 36, naturalized players Jiang Guangtai and Fernando have been reused by head coach Ivankovic, and Alan is also the main force in Ivankovic's mind in the next round of 18! These three naturalized players have proven themselves in previous matches. In addition to this, in this game, 3 naturalized players are expected to turn into 6 naturalized. In addition to the above three, like Cangzhou Lions' foreign aid Oscar, Dutch midfielder Lotte and Canadian midfielder Wu Xiaohai, they all meet the conditions for naturalization, according to the requirements, as long as they complete the naturalization procedures, they can be eligible to play, and the three of them are expected to accept naturalization and represent the national football team in this game. The 6 naturalized games, the Chinese national football team also has a very big hope of winning the opponent at home. It's just that in this way, Wei Shihao is uncomfortable! He will most likely be abandoned by Ivankovic! After all, there is a limit to the number of people who can play in the game!
The decisive match against Saudi Arabia, this is the first game of the home stadium of the national football team in the round of 18, and we must fight for a good start at home!