On the evening of the 5th, Beijing time, in the crucial first round match of the 2026 Mexico City World Cup Asia qualifiers, the Chinese national football team lost miserably to the Japanese team with a score of 0:7 away from home and failed to get off to a good start.
In this match, the gap in strength between the two teams is obvious. The last time the Chinese national football team defeated their opponent was in 1998. In the latest FIFA world rankings, the Japanese team ranked 18th and the Chinese national football team ranked 87th. In addition, the opponent team has many European players.
Before the game, Chinese national football coach Ivankovic said the team will focus more on defense, counterattack and strive to escape from the away game unscathed. "We must play this game with courage, do a good job of defense, run in the team, and do our best to score points."
Wu Lei said that even if the opponent is strong, the team will not give up easily. "We have trained many times and watched the game videos, and we know the Japanese team's playing style very well."
Focusing on the game, the Chinese team lined up a 442 formation. The forward line was led by captain Wu Lei and Zhang Yuning. In the midfield, Li Yuanyi and Jiang Shenglong formed a double defensive midfielder, and Xu Haoyang and Xie Wenneng were on both sides. The back line from left to right was Liu Yang, Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Guangtai, and Yang Zexiang. The goalkeeper was Wang Dalei.
After the opening, the two teams started to test each other. In the 10th minute, the Japanese team broke through on the right wing and made a cross. Doan Ritsu followed up and tried to score, but was saved by Wang Dalei.
In the 12th minute of the game, the Japanese team broke the deadlock with a corner kick. After the corner kick was taken from the left side, Endo Wataru seized the opportunity and headed the ball into the goal.
After that, the Chinese team was still at a disadvantage and failed to create many threatening offensive opportunities. In the 45th minute, Yang Zexiang completed a good long-distance attack, but was disrupted by the opponent when cooperating with his teammates at the front of the penalty area.
In the first half, during injury time, Doan Ritsu made a cross from the right and Mitoma Kaoru headed the ball into the goal. At the end of the first half, the Chinese national team was trailing 0:2.
After the change of sides, in the 52nd minute, Sanzan Xun made a straight pass, Minamino Takumi dribbled through, and shot from the left side to score while being surrounded by three people.
In the 58th minute, Takumi Minamino took the ball from the top of the arc and shot low into the right side of the penalty area to complete his second goal. Facing the opponent's rapid breakthrough, the Chinese national football team obviously failed to meet the standards in terms of defensive speed and arrival rate.
In the 77th minute, Jun'ya Ito suddenly shot from the right side of the penalty area. The ball refracted and penetrated Wang Dalei's fingers again, and the score came to 0:5.
In the 86th minute, Ito Junya made a cross and Maeda Dairan headed the ball in from the left side of the penalty area. At the last moment, Kubo Takefusa made the score 0:7. In this round of 18, the Chinese national football team fell into the "death group" and was divided into Group C with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia. According to the rules, the top two teams in the group will directly advance to the World Cup finals, and the third and fourth teams will qualify for the play-offs.
After suffering a crushing defeat in the first game, the Chinese national football team needs to solve the problem of how to play with spirit and energy in future games and demonstrate the technical and tactical level in training as much as possible.
Image source: Chinese football team social media
Since the first three games of the round of 18 saw China play against Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia respectively, the schedule was very difficult at the start. The Chinese national team needed to hone its tactics and accumulate experience more quickly in the games.
According to the schedule, at 20:00 on September 10, the Chinese team will face the Saudi team at their home stadium, Dalian Soyu Bay Football Stadium.
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