"…Last night, the Chinese national team defeated the South Korean national team 3:1 at the Jincheng Provincial Sports Center. The soldiers of the Chinese team playing at home were united and dedicated, and their performance in both offense and defense was far superior.
Better than the visiting team South Korea... It is worth mentioning that the home atmosphere of this game was also created very well by Jincheng fans. At the post-match press conference, the head coach of the Chinese team Shi Wuyin specially thanked Jincheng's home team
He thanked the home fans for his work. He believed that the fans’ full support was an important reason why the Chinese team was able to defeat the South Korean team at home..."
"In another top-12 match that kicked off at 11 o'clock last night, Beijing time, there was another good news. Saudi Arabia, which played at home, lost to Qatar 1:2. So the Chinese team relied on its victory over the South Korean team to move into the group rankings.
Promoted from fourth to third... This means that as long as the Chinese team defeats Qatar in the last group match away from home, it will be able to qualify for the World Cup qualifying play-offs as the third place in the group! The Chinese team will qualify for the World Cup.
Hope is still there!”
The announcer on the TV news sounded excited. Xie Lan, who was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV, sighed:
“I still feel like last night was a dream...especially when I opened my eyes today and found myself lying at home.”
Hu Lixin said to his wife while watching the post-match analysis of the game on his mobile phone: "Korean people hope this is a dream more than you do."
“Fortunately, it’s not a dream!” Xie Lan patted his heart and said happily, “I feel happy when I think of making Koreans feel embarrassed! Hey, Lao Hu, do you think we can go to the World Cup this time?”
Hu Lixin shook his head: "It's still difficult. Let's not talk about how difficult it is to play Qatar in an away game. Let's just say that we defeated Qatar and really got the third place in the group. We also need to play two extra games with the third place in another group.
Competition. Looking at it now, Uzbekistan is very likely to finish third. For us, this opponent is not easy to beat. In the end, even if we really perform exceptionally and win Uzbekistan, we still have to compete with South America.
The team plays two play-offs...and no matter who is our opponent in South America, with the current strength of the Chinese team, it is really difficult to defeat the South American team..."
Xie Lan felt dizzy when she heard her husband analyze this to him in a serious manner. She waved her hand impatiently: "Okay, okay. I understand. In short, the Chinese team is not worthy of going to the World Cup!"
Hu Lixin:???
“When did I mean this?”
“Didn’t you say that this is difficult, and that is also difficult?”
“It’s really difficult. The opponent’s strength is too far behind ours. I advise you not to think too much, be normal, be normal…”
“Hey, who’s eyes were red in the stands yesterday?” Xie Lan joked.
“I did it because of yesterday’s game. That game was different. Can the game against the Korean team be the same?” Hu Lixin hurriedly defended.
"Speaking of all that... just say whether you want the Chinese team to go to the World Cup!" Xie Lan asked.
“Who doesn’t want to do this? But it’s not that easy...”
Before Hu Lixin finished speaking, he saw his wife picking up the phone and sending a voice message to his son: "Son, your dad said he wants to see you lead the Chinese team to participate in the World Cup!"
“What are you doing?” Hu Lixin asked in shock. “Is that what I meant?”
"Why don't you mean it this way? I just removed the language modifications and said it directly to my son... If you don't agree, you can tell your son yourself!"
Xie Lan looked at her husband triumphantly. She bet that her husband would not go and explain to Hu Lai because of this.
Sure enough, Hu Lixin sighed: "Forget it. You are adding pressure to him."
“Isn’t he under a lot of pressure? So many fans across the country are looking forward to the Chinese team entering the World Cup? The pressure on him is less than mine?”
As Xie Lan said, the next news appeared on the TV:
"...This morning, all the players and coaches of the Chinese team flew directly from Jincheng to Doha, the capital of Qatar, where they will prepare for the final match against Qatar in the top 12... At Dongsheng International Airport, the Chinese team
It was warmly received by the fans..."
The picture shows the bustling Dongsheng International Airport terminal. A dark crowd gathered together, spreading from the security checkpoint in the terminal to outside the terminal.
When the bus carrying the Chinese team players slowly approached, a huge cheer broke out from the crowd at the scene.
“Come on Team China!!!”
“Hu Lai is awesome!!”
“I will love you even if I win, and I will love you even if I lose!”
These shouts clearly made Xie Lan and Hu Lixin feel like they were at the scene even though they were separated from the TV set...
※※※
The aftertaste of the Chinese team's victory over the South Korean team at home has not yet dissipated. Many videos of the reactions of fans from all over the country after the Chinese team won the game have appeared on the Internet.
The most eye-catching thing is that after the game, the Chinese fans in Jincheng formed a square formation, holding the huge national flag that appeared in the stands, and walked from the Provincial Sports Center to the center of Jincheng
People's Square.
There were excited fans joining in along the way.
The crowds are getting bigger and bigger, and the team is getting stronger.
At the end, when they arrived at their destination, they had almost filled up the entire People's Square.
The traffic police sent multiple police cars to clear the way for them, protect them, and implement traffic control. When they met drivers along the way, no one complained about these enthusiastic fans blocking their way, but instead honked their horns in greeting. There were even fans who drove in the queue.
Follow them towards the People's Square.
They walked for three hours for a distance of nine kilometers. It was already late at night when they arrived at the People's Square, but the excited people still did not disperse.
Under the watchful eyes of the people's leaders, they sang the famous songs they had sung in the competition again.
There is a circular sunken area with a Tai Chi pattern in the middle of the People's Square, which was once jokingly called the Mandarin Duck Hot Pot by the people of Jincheng.
Now, this place has really turned into a hot pot of enthusiasm. The Chinese national fans in red are the boiling red oil.
Jincheng fans’ carnival lasted until nearly three o’clock in the morning.
People gradually dispersed and took away the garbage around them consciously.
When they evacuated, the huge People's Square was not in a mess.
Only the founding leader still stared silently at the quiet night of the city, just as he had done countless times before.
People in cars that occasionally drive by the square can’t even tell that more than 10,000 people have just gathered here...
However, those exciting scenes still remain in the hearts of countless people and have been uploaded to the Internet. They are treasured forever as rare and beautiful memories of Chinese football.
No matter how many years it takes, someone will find videos and photos on the Internet that record these scenes, telling how Chinese fans back then saw beautiful scenery and had moments of joy during their arduous journey.
※※※
The match between Saudi Arabia and Qatar was played an hour after the match between China and South Korea.
I don’t know if it was affected by the Chinese team’s home defeat of the South Korean team, but the performance of Saudi Arabia at home in this game was unsatisfactory.
At the same time, the victory of the Chinese team also pushed Qatar to a dead end. If they still want to qualify for the play-offs, they have no other way but to defeat Saudi Arabia.
So this civil war in West Asia was very fierce.
In the end, Qatar successfully defeated Saudi Arabia 2:1. While pulling Saudi Arabia down from the third position in the league, it also allowed them to have the same points as Saudi Arabia, both with 11 points.
In this way, the situation becomes simpler.
In the last round of the group stage, all three teams must strive for victory. Whoever loses will be completely eliminated.
The Chinese team with 12 points has already surpassed Saudi Arabia and Qatar in terms of points, and the situation they face is the simplest. If they win against Qatar, they will be the third in the group. Australia, the second in the group, will have 3 away games in this round.
:0 defeated the United Arab Emirates and accumulated 15 points. Even if Australia lost in the last round and the Chinese team won, the two teams had the same points. Based on the goal difference between the two teams, the Chinese team would not be able to surpass Australia and become second in the group. Currently, China
The team's goal difference is minus one, which is not too bad, but Australia's goal difference is plus five, and the difference between the two teams is six goals. Unless Australia loses to the South Korean team by a big score at their home court in the last round
, at the same time, the Chinese team defeated Qatar with a big score in the away game, but this condition was too harsh, and many people did not consider this possibility.
Saudi Arabia challenges the United Arab Emirates in an away game. The former Asian football hegemon who was forced to a dead end should not lose its chain again. But even if they win, it will still depend on the result of the match between the Chinese team and Qatar. As long as the Chinese team and Qatar do not win or lose.
, or if the Chinese team loses to Qatar, Saudi Arabia can still regain the third place in the group.
Qatar will have to defeat the Chinese team at home and hope that Saudi Arabia will lose to the United Arab Emirates in an away game. Therefore, Qatar's World Cup qualifying journey is also the most dangerous.
However, this by no means means that the Chinese team’s last group match will be relatively easy.
In fact, this may be the most difficult game to play, even more difficult than the last game against the Korean team.
First of all, the Chinese team is playing away from home this time, playing an away game against a West Asian team, as everyone knows.
Secondly, there are many stories of grudges and hatred between Qatar and Chinese football.
Third and most important, there is some... old grudge between Qatar and Hulay.
So you can imagine what kind of treatment the Chinese team and Hulay will encounter at the home stadium in Qatar.