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tomorrow (september 5) at 18:35, the chinese national football team will visit the saitama 2002 stadium in japan, kicking off the world cup asian qualifiers round of 18. this time, the chinese national football team was drawn into the "death group" in the round of 18, and the first round is to play against the "big brother" japanese team in asia (the team is currently ranked 17th in the world and has long been ranked first in asia). facing the japanese team with 20 european players and a total value of 276 million euros, the difficulty of this game can be imagined.

chinese men's football team training and preparations for the match. image courtesy of visual china

although most chinese fans do not have high expectations for the outcome of this match, three years ago, ivan led oman to an upset 1-0 away win over japan in the first round of the asian qualifiers for the last world cup, teaching the "arrogant" japanese internationals a lesson, which also made the japanese side feel a little "uneasy". japanese veteran yuto nagatomo believes that the chinese players are better than the oman team in terms of ability and organization, "they may cause us a lot of trouble!"

as many as 20 european players will support the team

the total value of the japanese team is 25 times that of the chinese national team!

in the 2022 qatar world cup asian qualifiers, the chinese national football team was in the same group as the japanese team, and was defeated 0-1 at home and 0-2 away. the current japanese team has a stronger lineup than the last world cup qualifiers.total worth of 276 million eurosthe total value of the 27 chinese national football players is 11.025 million euros, which is only 1/25 of that of the japanese team! what makes chinese fans even more uncomfortable is that the personal value of 9 players in the japanese team has exceeded the total value of the entire chinese national football team.

among the 27 players on the japanese team, only 7 are from the local league, and the other 20 players all play in europe. liverpool's endo wataru, monchengladbach's itakura ko, brighton's mitoma kaoru, freiburg's doan ritsu, real sociedad's kubo takefusa, southampton's sugawara yusei, reims's ito junya and nakamura keito, mallorca's asano takuma, monaco's minamino takumi, crystal palace's kamada daichi, parma's suzuki ayaka, these players who play in the top five leagues, are basically able to play as the main force or serve as rotation players in the team. among other players who play abroad, ueda kiyo, maeda dairan, hatate reo, and morita eimasu are also playing for the top teams in their respective leagues (feyenoord, celtic, sporting cp).

endo, who plays for liverpool, according to visual china

moreover, the japanese team also gave up arsenal's takehiro tomiyasu, bayern's hiroki ito, brondby's yuto suzuki, blackburn's yuki ohashi, luton's daiki hashioka, sint-truiden's joruki fujita and reo kokubo due to injuries and other reasons. mainz's kaishu sano was previously suspected of sexual assault, and although he was not prosecuted, he was not called up by head coach ichi moriyasu. if all these players who studied abroad in europe join the team, the japanese team's lineup will be even more "terrifying".

on the other hand, the chinese national football team has 27 players who are all from the local league, and no one has played abroad. therefore, although many chinese fans went to japan at their own expense to cheer for the national football team, few people expect the national football team to score points away from home. the only thing that chinese fans expect is to play a certain game.

given that china's national football team is at a disadvantage in terms of lineup and strength, they will also face the test of the referee team in tomorrow night's match - all members of the referee team for this match are from qatar, and the chief referee is jasim, who is known as the "nemesis of the national football team".in the previous games that jasim officiated, the chinese national football team lost all the games., including the 2019 asian cup, where the chinese national football team lost 0-2 to south korea, 0-3 to iran, and 0-3 to south korea in the world cup asian qualifiers last november. in both of the two china-south korea battles, the chinese national football team was awarded a penalty by jasim for fouls in the penalty area. in addition, in the 2020 u23 asian cup, the u23 chinese national football team also lost 0-2 to the uzbek u23 team under jasim's refereeing.

ivan led oman to an away win over japan

this makes the japanese international feel "uneasy"

although fans will not have high expectations for this game, the chinese national football team will certainly not give up the hope of scoring points easily. it is reported that the training volume during this training camp is quite large. although many national team players are a little overwhelmed, the whole team still trains very hard. wu lei, who is in great form in the chinese super league this season, also said in an interview that the japanese team is now a world powerhouse, and there is definitely a gap between the chinese national football team and them. "but this does not mean that we will give up. the chinese national football team can enter the top 18 and have the opportunity to compete with the top asian teams. we cherish it very much, so no matter who we play, we will try our best and will not give up in advance!"

as for the chinese national football coach ivankovic, he may not be afraid of the japanese team. in the first round of the last world cup asian qualifiers, ivan led the oman team to an unexpected 1-0 away victory over the japanese team, giving the opponent a wake-up call. recently, ivan also posted a photo of the team preparing for the top 18 on social media, and wrote:"in the camp in japan, the road to the world cup!"

the 38-year-old japanese veteran yuto nagatomo also mentioned ivankovic in an interview recently. he said: "the head coach of the chinese team is ivankovic, the head coach of the oman team in the last world cup qualifiers. this is indeed a bit disturbing. to be honest, the oman team made us take adequate countermeasures in the last world cup qualifiers, and the players of the chinese team are more capable and organized than the oman team at that time. if they adopt relevant strategies against us, it will cause us a lot of trouble. this is what makes me most uncomfortable."

ivankovic leads the chinese national football team in pre-match preparations. image courtesy of visual china

since ivan has led his team to an upset victory over japan in an away game, the japanese media are very curious about whether the chinese national football team will adopt a defensive strategy in this game. a few days ago, japanese reporters appeared at the training ground of the chinese national football team, and they also asked chinese reporters about the changes in the team after ivan took office. the attitude of nagatomo yuto and the japanese media also shows that the japanese side does not underestimate the chinese national football team.

moreover, the fact that japan has too many overseas players is not entirely an advantage. as a result, the players in europe had to finish playing in the european league last weekend before returning to japan. after a long flight, the main players of the japanese team must be physically tired. coupled with the jet lag and the short training time for the whole team, this japanese team is not impeccable.

the chinese national football team has been training in dalian since august 23, and has plenty of time for joint practice. if the japanese players can make good use of their fatigue from long journeys and their fear of injuries affecting their club matches, the chinese national football team will not be without the ability to fight away from home.

with the expansion of the world cup, the fourth place among the six teams in each group of the last 18 will continue to retain the hope of qualifying for the world cup, so losing to the japanese team in the first round away from home is not the "end of the world", just fight to the death!

red star news reporter jiang shan