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chao news client reporter ying luyang

image courtesy of visual china

on the evening of september 5th, beijing time, the first round of the third stage (round of 18) of the 2026 world cup asian qualifiers group c kicked off. the chinese men's football team challenged the japanese team at the saitama world cup stadium. in the end, the chinese team suffered a bitter defeat of 0-7. this is also the biggest defeat of the chinese national football team in the history of the two sides' confrontation.

as the top team in the group, japan has qualified for the world cup for seven consecutive times. the total value of the team is as high as 276 million euros, which is more than 25 times that of the chinese national football team. most of the players play in overseas leagues, including international stars such as kaoru mitoma, takefusa kubo, and wataru endo who are very successful in the five major leagues. whether it is the value of the players, the technical level or the overall strength, there is a clear gap between the two teams, and these gaps in all aspects are also reflected in the game.

just 13 minutes into the game, the japanese team scored the first goal from a corner kick. endo wataru quickly found an open space and headed the ball into the goal under the cover of his teammates. the chinese national team fell behind 0-1 away from home.

the picture of endo kou scoring with a header comes from the internet

after opening the scoring account early, the japanese team played more calmly, with kaoru mitoma on the left wing and ritsu doan on the right wing flying together, constantly attacking the chinese team's defense. in the first half stoppage time, ritsu doan sent a cross and kaoru mitoma headed the ball in from the back to score another goal.

kaoru mitoma scored another goal with a header. the picture comes from the internet

after the change of sides, japanese player takumi minamino scored twice, widening the score gap to 4-0. after leading by a large margin at home, japanese head coach moriyasu ichi made substitutions for the team. substitutes junya ito and dairan maeda scored one goal each. in the stoppage time, takefusa kubo scored a goal, giving the chinese national team a 0-7 defeat. this is also the biggest defeat of the chinese national team in the history of the two sides.

in this stage of the competition, the chinese men's football team is in group c as a fifth-tier team with japan, australia, saudi arabia, bahrain and indonesia. the top two teams in the three groups will directly get tickets to the world cup, and the third and fourth teams in each group will enter the fourth stage of competition. japan, australia and saudi arabia are all regular visitors to the world cup. competing with bahrain and indonesia, which are relatively weak in the same group, for the fourth place in the group has become a more realistic goal for the chinese national football team. the bad news for the chinese national football team is that in another group c match that ended earlier, bahrain defeated australia 1-0 in an upset, which undoubtedly cast a shadow on the prospects of the chinese national football team's qualification.

next, the chinese national football team will return to dalian to prepare for the home game against saudi arabia on september 10.

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