In Jiangcheng, the Chinese team swept the Maldives with 8 goals without losing a fight.
However, in the hot Doha, the provincial and Hong Kong teams failed to live up to the ardent hopes of Chinese fans and failed to defeat or draw with Qatar in the away game.
The 0:2 defeat also caused the provincial and Hong Kong teams to completely lose the opportunity to compete with the Chinese team for second place in the group.
Qatar has won all seven games, surpassing the Chinese team by 5 points, has qualified from Group C one round ahead of schedule, and has secured first place in the group.
In this way, the Chinese team must become the second best among the four groups among the eight groups in order to advance to the final top 12.
Before the start of this round, the Chinese team had 16 points and a goal difference of 26, ranking second in the horizontal competition with the other seven second-placed teams, second only to Syria with 18 points.
This also means that as long as the Chinese team defeats Qatar in Chang'an City, they can qualify as the second best group.
Because among the other seven second-placed teams, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and North Korea have the same 16 points as the Chinese team. Therefore, if the Chinese team draws with Qatar, there is a certain hope of advancing. However, it depends on other teams.
His face changed.
It seems that the prospects for the Chinese team to advance are bright, but in fact, the difficulty is not small.
Because the last opponent, Qatar, can be said to be the bitter enemy of the Chinese team.
The Chinese team has played against Qatar 16 times in total, and the Chinese team has achieved a record of 6 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses.
Although it seems that the Chinese team has a slight advantage, in the eight World Cup preliminaries encounters, the national football team has 1 win, 3 draws and 4 losses, completely at a disadvantage.
Since defeating Qatar 1-0 in the 2004 Asian Cup group stage, the national football team has only achieved 1 draw and 3 losses in the 4 games against Qatar. Among them, in the 2008 World Cup preliminaries, the national football team drew 0-0 away from home and 0-0 at home.
1 lost to their opponents. In the 2011 Asian group stage, the national football team lost 0-2 to their opponents. In addition, the national football team lost 0-1 away from home in the first round of this world preliminaries. The Chinese national team has not defeated the Qatar team in 12 years.
However, this time against Qatar, the Chinese team has a great chance of winning.
Qatar has already won the first place in the group, and it is impossible to fight to the death with the Chinese team.
This time when Qatar came to China, it was just a formality to practice its troops.
Another good news is that after defeating the Hong Kong Island team, three of Qatar's main players were suspended and one was injured. Qatar, which is short of major generals, is definitely not as strong as the Qatar team in the first round.
Finally, the Chinese team has a decisive player - Zhao Yang.
After Zhao Yang joined the Huaguo team, the Huaguo team immediately cured the old problem of weak forwards. Not only did they win all three games, they also beat their opponents by 36 goals. This offensive power is unrivaled in Asia.
After playing in the Maldives, the Chinese team had no intention of summarizing the "training match" after the game. Their attention was focused on the match in Qatar four days later.
Head coach Perrin said: "This was an expected victory. We got the points we needed. Now we have to shift our energy to the game against Qatar.
We have no retreat, the only goal is to score 3 points. What determines the outcome of a football match is not only the skills and tactics, but the desire and motivation to win shown during the match. There are eight groups, and every team wants to advance.
If we want to succeed, we must give it a go at all costs."
Li Gang, the leader of the Chinese national team, said: "The game against Qatar is the last game of the top 40 in the Asian region of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. This game is very serious for us. Only by defeating our opponents can we qualify. After three consecutive victories,
Our players are in good condition and I believe we can defeat Qatar this time and avenge the first round."
This game is so important that both the fans and the media are paying close attention to this game. Even the Football Association Chairman Hua Zhencai came to Chang'an with the team and encouraged and spurred the players when being interviewed by reporters.
"If you win, you will qualify! I believe I have heard this sentence many times, but every time the qualifiers reach this point, we fall behind.
From a competitive sports perspective, any competition will be stressful, which is a normal phenomenon. This is also true for table tennis competitions.
If you want to be a strong team, you must have the ability to withstand pressure.
A team that usually plays well but falters in key games will never be able to become a strong team.
Like how to control pressure and how to turn pressure into motivation on the field, these are what our coaches and team leaders need to do. I believe they can do a good job, and I also believe you will not let the fans down."
Zheng Hua, the captain of the Chinese team, expressed the team's confidence in winning, "Now it's time to fight against the odds. We won't think about the games of other groups, nor the previous games. These are not what we need at this time."
We can bear the burden now, we will put all our energy on the field now, and our whole team will definitely be united during the game."
The top star of the Chinese national team, Zhao Yang, who scored 16 goals in 3 games, also issued a battle declaration before the game.
"Qatar is a very strong team. They qualified. Their mentality is more relaxed than ours, which is more conducive to their performance. However, our entire team has the belief and determination to win, let alone Qatar.
Even if we are facing Japan and South Korea, our goal today is still to defeat Qatar and score all 3 points."
The day after the Chinese team arrived in Chang'an, the Qatari team also arrived.
At the hotel where the Qatar team stayed, Qatar head coach Carreño was interviewed by reporters.
Carreño said frankly: "We have already qualified in the group and entered the next stage of the competition, but this does not mean anything. Our goal in this match against the Chinese team is still to win, and the same is true for the Chinese team."
When talking about whether to adjust the lineup in this game, Carreño said: "It is true that some of our players cannot come to China and we have to prepare for the next stage of the game, but we will send the best players and the best players.
Strong players compete.”
When talking about whether to adjust the new lineup in this game, Carreño said: "It is true that some of our players cannot come to China and we have to prepare for the next stage of the game, but we will send the best players and the best players.
Strong players compete.”
If the Chinese team wants to get the right to qualify, in addition to defeating the Qatar team, it also has to compete with several other West Asian teams. Regarding whether the Qatar team will help other West Asian teams, Carreño said: "In football
There is no friendship on the field, nor does it mean that we will help whomever we have a good relationship with. Every team must try their best to play their own game, so we will put more energy into the game."
In this game, Qatar will have three absolute main players absent. Carreño expressed regret for this, "We have selected a total of 28 players in the past, and I think these 28 players are the best. The three players are very important to us."
It is very important, they are all core players, but I think other players will also do a good job. If the Chinese team wants to get the promotion ticket from us, they need to show their true skills."