The 2026 World Cup will be reformed, expanding from 32 teams to 48 teams, and the 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by three countries for the first time, which is a World Cup full of opportunities, and the number of qualifying places in Asia will be expanded from 4.5 to 8.5, which means that the teams that enter the round of 18 have nearly a 50% chance of participating in the 2026 World Cup, including the Chinese men's football team.
At present, in Asian football, in addition to the traditional five first-class teams of Japan, Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Australia, such as Qatar, U.A.E., Iraq and Uzbekistan are the favorites to enter the 2026 World Cup, of course, there are third-rate teams such as Asian Cup runner-up Jordan and West Asian powerhouse Bahrain are also eyeing the promotion places, and the top 18 teams are each using their own means to fight for a place in the 2026 World Cup.
The round of 18 is divided into 3 groups, each group of 6 teams, using a home-and-away double round-robin format, the top two teams in the group directly qualify for the 2026 World Cup, and the 3rd and 4th teams in the group will enter the fourth stage of the play-offs to compete for the remaining 2.5 promotion places. The Chinese men's football team participated in the draw as a fifth pot team in the round of 18, and finally scored in the same group with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia, which is the second consecutive World Preliminary Tournament for the Chinese men's football team to be in the same group with Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Chinese men's football is now ranked 91st in the world, ranked 13th in Asian football, since entering the South Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002, the level of Chinese football has been declining, and now it has become a third-rate team in Asia, even the Southeast Asian fish belly team dare not say that it will win, in the round of 36, the Chinese men's football team and Korea, Thailand, Singapore in the same group, the final record is actually the same as Thailand, have to compare with Thailand to advance in a thrilling way, so fans are generally pessimistic about the prospects of Chinese men's football in the round of 18.
The results of the first two rounds of the round of 18 confirmed the fans' fears, the first round of the national football team lost 0-7 away to Japan, setting a series of humiliating records, the second round back to home, the national football team was beaten by the Saudi team in the lead of one goal and the number of superiority, suffered two consecutive defeats, the ranking is also the bottom position, which makes the Chinese men's football team in the next round of 18, facing great pressure, head coach Ivankovic once faced the dismissal, but in the end, for various reasons, Ivankovic will still lead the team to participate in the two rounds of the world preliminary round in October.
However, the recent national football team leak coincided with overnight rain, as the most lethal Wu Lei of the national football team, in the last round of the Chinese Super League, a no-ball confrontation in the ribs suffered an opponent's impact after being unable to adhere to the game and was sent directly to the hospital by ambulance for examination, after examination, there was no obvious fracture of the ribs, but the old knee injury recurrence, in October in the round of 18 can play in question. This is undoubtedly a huge blow to the Chinese men's football team.
In the two rounds of the round of 18 in October, the Chinese men's football team first challenged Australia away, and then returned to the home team to face the Indonesian team, for the Chinese men's football team, want to compete for the fourth place in the group, facing the top three teams can lose, but against the sixth pot team Indonesia, the national football team must win to retain the hope of fighting for the fourth in the group, but now the Indonesian team has opened the naturalization policy, the strength of the team has been improved instantly, and the national football team lacking Wu Lei can suffer a humiliating defeat, If these two games in October cannot be won, then the Chinese men's football team will bid farewell to the 2026 World Cup in advance.