At 18:35 PM on September 5th, in the first round of the 18-team qualifiers, the Chinese team lost 0-7 as a guest against Japan. Media figure Song Chengliang expressed his views on the Chinese team after the first matchday of the 18-team qualifiers on social media.
Song Chengliang wrote, “In the first round of the Asian Zone’s 18-team qualifiers with nine matches, starting from Australia’s surprising 0-1 home loss to Bahrain, followed by Japan’s 7-0 win over China, South Korea’s 0-0 draw with Palestine, Uzbekistan’s 1-0 win over North Korea, Iran’s 1-0 win over Kyrgyzstan, Qatar’s 1-3 loss to the UAE, Iraq’s 1-0 win over Oman, Jordan’s 1-1 draw with Kuwait, I stayed up late to watch Saudi Arabia’s 1-1 draw with Indonesia.”
“I am so desperate, so angry I can’t sleep. Generally speaking, it was strong teams playing weak teams at home, except for the Chinese national team. The others all had decent performances. For example, Iran versus Kyrgyzstan, shots were 20 to 7, corners were 3 to 3, and Kyrgyzstan only lost by one goal. Apart from Zhang Yuning taking a wild shot, the Chinese team didn’t even have a shot. The player with the most passes in the entire game was goalkeeper Wang Dalei. It feels like in the entire 18-team qualifying round, only the Chinese team has lost their ability to compete. Whether it’s organizing attacks or coordinating defense, we don’t know how to do it. This lack of competitive ability is akin to Malele not knowing how to handle the ball.”
“I haven’t reviewed Australia’s match against Bahrain yet. I don’t know what Bahrain’s performance was like, but since they won against Australia, it must have been good; the Chinese team definitely can’t beat Indonesia. Shin Tae-yong’s 5-4-1 system is solid, focusing on transitions. From 36 to 18, we can’t see any tactical substance. Letting Ivan lead for ten games, I bet the points won won’t exceed five. Of course, he will be fired after losing to Indonesia.”