The 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by United States, Canada and Mexico, and FIFA has reformed the World Cup to expand to 48 teams for the first time, with the aim of further expanding the influence of the World Cup. The number of qualifying places in Asia has increased to 8.5 accordingly, so as long as they reach the round of 18, there is nearly a 50% hope of grabbing a ticket to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, and the Chinese men's football team sees the possibility of reaching the World Cup again.
The Asian round of 18 has been played for four rounds, and there are only four teams left in the three groups that are still unbeaten in the three groups, namely Japan, Korea, Uzbekistan and Iran, all four teams have 10 points and are the favorites to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The round of 18 is divided into three groups, each group of 6 teams, using a home-and-away double round-robin format, the top two teams in the group directly qualify, the third and fourth groups of a total of 6 teams will enter the fourth stage of the play-offs, and then compete for the remaining 2.5 promotion places.
The round of 18 has been played for four rounds and in Group A, Asian Cup champions Qatar have had a poor performance. Qatar took advantage of the opportunity of hosting the 2022 World Cup to vigorously develop its own football, and Qatar's level has also skyrocketed, winning two consecutive Asian Cup titles in 2019 and 2024. However, Qatar's form in the round of 18 has not been consistent, Qatar lost 1-3 at home to U.A.E. in the first round, and was forced to draw by North Korea in the second round with one more player, and it was not until the third round that Qatar defeated Kyrgyzstan at home to achieve its first victory in the round of 18.
However, in the fourth round, Qatar challenged Iran away, and in the Asian Cup semi-finals at the beginning of the year, Qatar eliminated Iran 3-2 and eventually won the championship. In the fourth round of the round of 18, Qatar scored first away from home through Ali, but Iran then scored four goals in a row to complete the reversal, and Qatar suffered a heavy defeat. The latest standings of Group A, Iran and Uzbekistan are both 3 wins and 1 draw with 10 points, Iran jumped to the top with goal difference, U.A.E. and Qatar are tied with 4 points, Qatar has a goal difference of -3, behind U.A.E., so U.A.E. is in 3rd place and Qatar is in 4th.
As a result, Qatar is six points behind Iran and Uzbekistan at the top of the table, and the chances of competing for a direct promotion spot are slim. In the fifth round of the round of 18 in November, Qatar will host Uzbekistan, and if Qatar loses again, they will withdraw from the competition for direct promotion and aim for the top four instead.
The fourth round of the round of 18 is all over, the Chinese men's football team defeated Indonesia at home, won the first victory of the round of 18, and after getting the life-saving 3 points, the situation of promotion has also reversed, in the three games of the 4th round of Group C, only the Chinese men's football team has won, the top Japan and Australia drew 1-1, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain exchanged blanks, so after 4 rounds, the standings of Group C, Japan has 10 points and ranks first, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain three teams have 5 points, Indonesia and the national football team have 3 points.
After their first win, the difference between them and the second place is only 2 points, and in the fifth round in November, the national football team will face Bahrain away and have an unbeaten psychological advantage against Bahrain in the last seven meetings. As long as the Chinese men's football team can beat Bahrain away, then the points will reach 6 points, and the next round Indonesia will play against Japan, the possibility of grabbing points is not very likely, Australia and Saudi Arabia will fight each other, direct dialogue, so the national football team will be likely to rise to the third place in the group after winning, in that way, the national football promotion situation will suddenly be clear.