Chapter 274 The draw for the top 12 in the Asian region
On the evening of the 11th local time, the 32nd round of La Liga ended.
Barcelona unexpectedly lost to Real Sociedad 0:1 in an away game. They were chased by second-ranked Atletico Madrid with only 3 points left, and were only 5 minutes behind third-ranked Real Madrid.
The competition for the La Liga championship suddenly became fierce.
Originally, there was no suspense about the Champions League spot.
Before the game, the Spaniard led Villarreal by 10 points, as stable as an old dog.
But as Espanyol lost at home and Villarreal defeated Getafe at home, the points gap between the two sides became 7 points. The competition for the Champions League seats also caused a stir.
After the game, Villarreal's coach said, "Villarreal has never given up. There are still six rounds of the league and everything is possible."
The Spaniards are also aware that their Champions League spot is not stable.
During the post-match interview, boss Chen Yansheng told reporters that he had no pressure. The team's original goal was just to avoid relegation. Even if they got a spot in the Europa League, it would be an unexpected surprise.
Head coach Sergio believes that the Spaniard's biggest advantage is that there are still six rounds of games. As long as they win 4 games, they will be guaranteed fourth place. Moreover, Villarreal may not be able to win all six rounds.
The Spanish supernova Zhao Yang used an ancient Chinese saying to express his views on the current situation, "A person who travels a hundred miles is half a mile, and the closer we are to the end, the more cautious we must be, so as not to fail in the end."
After the Espanyol game ended, what Zhao Yang was most concerned about was not actually the results of other teams' games. What he was most concerned about was the draw for the top 12 Asian teams in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
The draw will be held the day after the round ends.
This draw is related to the dream of Chinese football to break out of Asia and go global.
According to the FIFA rankings, after a lot of hard work, the Chinese national team ranked 96th in the world, eighth in Asia, and ranked fourth in the top 12 of the Asian preliminaries in the world, ranking second in Asia.
Among them, the teams in the first pot are Iran and Australia, the second pot: South Korea, Japan, the third pot: Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, the fourth pot: the United Arab Emirates and China are tied, the fifth pot: Qatar, Iraq; the sixth pot
:Syria,Thailand.
This also means that the Chinese team must be in the same group with two of the four teams: Iran, Australia, South Korea, and Japan.
According to the rules, the top 12 are divided into two groups, with 6 teams in each group. The top two in each group directly advance to the World Cup in Russia. The third place in the two groups will play a play-off first, and the winner will play the fourth place in Central and North America.
Play-offs, the winner advances to the World Cup finals.
This third place basically just needs to play a few more games, and it is impossible to win against the teams in Central and North America.
If you want to advance to the Russian World Cup finals, you can only finish in the top two in the group.
None of the four teams, Iran, Australia, South Korea, and Japan, is easy to beat, but football is not like basketball, and their styles of play are mutually exclusive.
Just like these four teams, the Chinese team has never won against the Korean team, and the Korean fear is very severe.
Although Japan is also the host, the Chinese team always performs well against Japan. Not only does it not fall behind, but it can occasionally win once or twice.
Iran is also the nemesis of the Chinese national team. The Islamophobia has not been present for a long time, but the condition is not serious.
Australia is basically a European and American team, and its strength is considered top-notch in Asia. But in a narrow encounter, the brave will win. The Chinese team would rather play Australia than Iran.
For the next few opponents, the Chinese team wants to avoid the powerful Saudi Arabia, and the unfamiliar but stronger Iraq wants to avoid Qatar and Thailand.
After the game, the Spaniard took a day off to rest.
On this day, Zhao Yang also had no time to rest. He participated in the commercial promotion activities of the Espanyol Club in the morning, and in the afternoon he participated in the filming of Nike commercials.
In the evening, Zhao Yang, like fans all over China, stayed in front of the computer, waiting for the draw ceremony of the top 12 Asian World Cup preliminaries held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
After an uncomplicated process, the six teams in groups A and B were in their respective positions. The Chinese team was placed in Group A. The opponents in the same group as the Chinese team were Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar, and Syria.
The six teams in Group B are Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Thailand.
This is a grouping that disappoints Zhao Yang and fans all over China.
In the first and second pots, the teams that the Chinese team most wanted to avoid, South Korea and Iran, were all drawn.
The third and fourth pots were quite lucky, with Uzbekistan and Qatar being drawn; but the fifth pot was drawn with Syria instead of Thailand, which is also an opponent that the Chinese team did not want to encounter.
The schedule of the Chinese national team is not friendly either.
For these 10 rounds, the schedule of the Chinese men’s football team has been set by the AFC as guest, home, home, away, home, home, away, away, home, away. On the surface, it seems to have the advantage of continuous home games, but in fact,
These two groups of consecutive home games were separated by one month or even four months. In the last five second round games, the Chinese team was also at a disadvantage in the number of home games. Especially in the last four games, the Chinese team was at a disadvantage.
The team even has to face 3 away games.
In addition, the Chinese team will challenge the second-tier team South Korea in the first round, and the first-tier team Iran in the second round.
This kind of opening schedule is simply hellish for the national football team.
Everything is difficult at the beginning. If they don't play well in these two games, given the psychological quality of the Chinese team, they may not have the confidence to play in the following games.
After watching the lottery ceremony, the players of the Chinese national team all sent messages to the national team’s WeChat group, expressing their disappointment with the lottery.
Although Zhao Yang was also disappointed, he did not show it. He still expressed in the group with confidence that there was no sign of signing for the Chinese team. Japan, South Korea, Yiao, etc. were all stronger than the Chinese team. If they played according to their strength, they would win.
If they can't beat them, all they have to do is fight their opponents. With luck, they might be able to cure their Korean-phobia and Islamophobia.
Zhao Yang's confidence and enthusiasm inspired the players of the Chinese team. During the discussion, everyone felt less frustrated and more motivated.
Team leader Li Gang also said that the national football team has been away from the Asian finals of the World Cup for 15 years. Among all the other 11 teams, only Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Australia have competed with the Chinese men's football team with their main lineups in the past two years.
.Those three games all took place in the Asian Cup more than a year ago.
So everyone can’t figure out the details of their opponents. It’s the first time they meet and give it a try. It’s hard to say who will win. Besides, there are still five months until the first round. The team has enough time to adjust. Zhao
If Yang can fully integrate into the team, he may not be unable to compete with South Korea and Iran.
In the top 40, Zhao Yang's performance was really eye-catching, and the Chinese team's victory was overwhelming, which gave the players great confidence.
After the team leader Li Gang said this, the confidence and enthusiasm of the players also increased. They offered suggestions and analyzed the enemy's situation. In the end, they wished that the top 12 games would begin soon.