news

on september 2, the chinese men's football team set off for japan. on september 5, they will play in the first match of the asian qualifiers for the world cup, against japan, the team in the top tier of the group.

the atmosphere of the chinese national football team in the first match of the 2026 world cup was quite cold. in this regard, one player said frankly: "competitive sports always speak with results. we can only work hard and improve our image by playing well."

early in the morning of the 2nd, the chinese national football team took a bus from their hotel to the airport to catch a flight to tokyo, japan at around 9 am. the team's trip was quiet. there were almost no fans at the hotel or the airport to see the team off. although the team left a little early and caught up with the working day, the atmosphere was still a little too cold.

in fact, the chinese national football team's preparations in dalian have not received much attention. since the team started training in dalian on august 23, although the first 15 minutes of the training are open every day and two national team players are arranged to be interviewed, there are not many media outlets going to the training ground to cover the national football team's training. there are also few fans waiting for the national team players to sign autographs or take photos at the entrance of the hotel where the national football team is staying.

the national team players themselves were not surprised by this result. they said that the performance of the chinese men's football team in recent years was indeed not ideal and certainly could not satisfy the majority of fans. in this regard, one player said frankly: "competitive sports always speak with results. we can only work hard and improve our image by playing well."

in fact, in addition to the cold atmosphere before the expedition, there are still a large number of tickets left for the chinese national team's first home game against saudi arabia on september 10, indicating that people's enthusiasm for the round of 18 is insufficient.

it's not that dalian people don't like watching football. on august 25, during the 20th round of the china league one, dalian inbo played against foshan nanshi at home. 55,628 people flocked to the dalian soaring bay football stadium, breaking the record of the highest number of live spectators in the china league one. the match between the chinese national football team and the saudi team was also held at the soaring bay stadium. however, at present, except for the lowest 280 yuan ticket and the most expensive ticket, there are still many tickets left for the other four levels.

there are two factors that led to this result. first, the ticket price is really expensive. the ticket price for this game is divided into six price ranges: 280, 480, 780, 1180, 1380, and 1680 (vip). compared with the ticket prices for the round of 36, the increase is obvious. in the previous round of 36 match between the chinese national football team and the singapore team at home, the lowest ticket price was 160 yuan and the highest was 680 yuan. for the match between shenyang's home court and the thai team, the lowest ticket price has not changed and is still 160 yuan, but the highest price has reached 1280 yuan. on the other hand, the most expensive box ticket for the japanese team's home game is less than 1,500 yuan, and the general ordinary seat ticket is only 200 yuan. after various comparisons, fans are naturally unwilling to pay. secondly, the performance of the national football team is not good enough, and everyone thinks it is not worth the ticket price. in this regard, some fans said bluntly: "the tickets are so expensive, are we going to spend money to watch the national football team being suppressed by the opponent throughout the whole process?"

the reason for the cold reception is that the chinese national football team had a bad performance before. in competitive sports, results are the real winner. therefore, in the next round of 18, the chinese national football team has no choice but to fight hard.

as the fifth-tier team in the group, the chinese national football team is placed in group c with japan, australia, saudi arabia, bahrain and indonesia. the top two teams in the group will directly qualify for the world cup, and the third and fourth teams will enter the fourth stage of competition. 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 definitely 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.

in addition to striving for the top four, the chinese national football team must also fight with all their energy and spirit in the next games to re-boost the team's morale and confidence.

source: beijing sports

reporter: li li