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chao news client reporter ying luyang

at noon today, the chinese men's football team arrived in tokyo, japan, to prepare for the first away game against japan in the round of 18 of the 2026 world cup asian qualifiers on september 5.

this stage is the third stage of the 2026 world cup asian qualifiers. as a fifth-tier team, the chinese men's football team is grouped in group c with japan, australia, saudi arabia, bahrain and indonesia. the top two teams in each group will directly qualify for the world cup, and the third and fourth teams in each group will enter the fourth stage. in the next round of 18, the chinese national football team, which ranks 13th in asia and is striving for a place in the world cup, will have a difficult road ahead. it is not realistic to qualify directly as the top two in the group, but it still needs to strive for the third or fourth place in the group to retain the chance of qualifying.

chinese men's football team prepares for the world cup qualifiers. photo courtesy of visual china

the difference in value is more than 25 times

japan's elite players are out to play against china's national football team

the chinese national football team's first opponent, japan, is the top team in the group. as a regular at the world cup, the japanese men's football team advanced to the top 18 with an almost impeccable performance in the last round of 36 of the world cup asian qualifiers, winning all six games and conceding no goals.

unlike the chinese national team, which started training early, the japanese football association did not announce the team roster until august 29, and officially assembled on september 2, with a pre-match training period of only three days. this arrangement is because the national team match window designated by fifa will not start until september 2. among the 27 players on the japanese team's roster, as many as 20 are overseas players, most of whom are playing well in european leagues, so it is more effective to use competition as training.

the japanese team list includes international stars such as brighton's independent winger kaoru mitoma, liverpool's main defensive midfielder wataru endo, and takefusa kubo, who is thriving in la liga's real sociedad. the total value of the players is nearly 280 million euros. compared with japan's star-studded list, the total value of the chinese national team is only 11 million euros, less than one-twentieth of the opponent.

compared with the previous world cup qualifying roster, two key players on the back line, takehiro tomiyasu of arsenal and hiroki ito of bayern, were not selected due to injuries. head coach moriyasu ichi recruited experienced veterans such as shogo taniguchi and ko itakura, and also recruited two newcomers, 22-year-old kaiki mochizuki and 19-year-old kodai takai. both kaiki mochizuki and kodai takai are 1.92 meters tall. the former is of nigerian and japanese descent and plays for machida zelvia, who is currently ranked second in the j1 league. the latter is the main defender of kawasaki frontale and recently entered the quarterfinals of the paris olympics as a main player with the japanese olympic team.

despite having a group of capable players, japan coach moriyasu hajime remains cautious about the first match. after all, in the first match of the last world cup qualifiers, the japanese team led by moriyasu hajime was defeated 1-0 at home by ivankovic's oman team.

in an interview with the media, moriyasu said that the chinese team is an opponent that deserves vigilance. "we underestimated the opponent in the last world cup qualifier against oman. ivankovic is an experienced coach who will conduct a thorough analysis of us, so we must be prepared, have the right attitude, and go all out to prepare for the game so that we can perform well tactically."

chinese national football coach ivankovic. photo courtesy of visual china

emphasis on defense in away game against japan

fighting for points at home against saudi arabia

given the gap in strength between the chinese and japanese teams, if the chinese national football team puts a heavy psychological burden on themselves in this away game against japan, it would be a bit of a self-inflicted trouble. there is a consensus outside that it is reasonable for the chinese national football team to lose in an away game, and even getting one point from the opponent is a pleasant surprise.

the past record of the two teams' confrontations shows that chinese and japanese football have not been on the same level for a long time. in the last world cup qualifiers, the chinese national football team was in the same group as the japanese team and was defeated twice by the opponent. in the 14 encounters since this century, the chinese national football team has 6 draws and 8 losses, without a single win. the last time it defeated the japanese team was in the fourth dynasty cup in 1998, 26 years ago.

the coaching staff is naturally aware of this reality gap. "the ranking and value of our opponents are incomparable to ours. i know the japanese team very well, so we just need to do a good job of defense against the japanese team. no matter what the result is, it will not affect our subsequent games." ivankovic said in an interview with the media.

however, focusing on defense does not mean surrendering. during the training camp in dalian, the chinese national football team coach ivankovic led the team to review the video of the 0-1 away loss to south korea in the final round of the round of 36. the iron bucket formation against south korea shows that even if chinese football is still at a low point, if we can get our position right, calm down and concentrate, we can accomplish something. "in the game against the japanese team, we will do our best to try to get points. there may be unexpected results. this is the best feedback to the fans. the important thing is that we must avoid injuries and let the players get into the rhythm of the competition as soon as possible." ivankovic said.

after the away game against japan, the chinese national team will return to dalian soar bay football stadium to face saudi arabia. although saudi arabia is far ahead of the chinese national team in terms of ranking and strength, ivankovic still has higher expectations for the team when they return to their home stadium. "the test for the chinese team is the home game against saudi arabia on september 10. we must score points in this game and strive to achieve an ideal result."

the saudi team led by italian coach roberto mancini has only one european player, defender abdulhamid, who has just joined roma. al-hilal and al-victory are the biggest contributors to the national team, with 10 and 7 players selected respectively.

the first two rounds of the asian qualifiers for the chinese national football team:

round 1: japan vs. china, september 5, 2024

second round: china vs saudi arabia on september 10, 2024

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