With Syria's 1:0 victory over India on the evening of January 23, the Chinese men's soccer team's last hope of advancing was dashed. They have played a total of three matches in Group B of the Asian Cup, earning two draws and one loss, accumulating two points. They are ranked third in Group A and have no chance to enter the next round of the group stage, officially bidding farewell to this year's Asian Cup.
China will be competing in their 13th Asian Cup, having last suffered elimination 13 years ago in 2011, when the 15th Asian Cup was held in Qatar. Again, China was placed in Group A, competing with hosts Qatar. In the end, China finished third in the group stage and failed to move forward.
In that edition of the national team, local coach Gao Hongbo led the team with Zhang Linpeng in the starting lineup, who opened his scoring account for China at the Asian Cup and helped the team open the tournament with a 2:0 victory over Kuwait. After 13 years, he still plays an important role in the national team coached by Jankovic, but in the end could not escape the fate of elimination. Wei Shihao lamented after the game, "I think Chinese soccer is now fully behind, no matter who the opponent is, we don't have any advantage. All the teams are improving now, only we are still stagnant." Such exclamation came after losing to Qatar in the last match of the group stage.
Indeed, against Tajikistan and Lebanon, who are ranked outside the top 100 in the world, China not only found it difficult to take control of the situation, but were even mobbed for most of the match against Tajikistan. If not for Lebanon's two shots in the first and second half that were blocked by the crossbar, China could have suffered two consecutive losses. As a new team, Tajikistan, which advanced to the Asian Cup final round for the first time, proudly made it to the round of 16, even as bottom-ranked Lebanon scored a goal.
The Chinese team performed poorly in this year's Asian Cup tournament, not only failing to win but also failing to score, both of which are the lowest figures in the history of the national soccer team's participation in the tournament. In the previous 12 editions of the Asian Cup, China has achieved remarkable results in the tournament, reaching the quarterfinals four times and the final twice, as well as finishing second twice and third twice. Despite failing to break through to the group stage in the last three editions of the tournament, at least one victory has been achieved and goals have been scored in all of them. Therefore, it is not unfounded to suggest that this edition of the national soccer team is considered the worst in history.
Adding to the concern is the fact that the national soccer team will be playing in the World Qualifier 36 on March 21 and again on March 26 against Singapore. Based on the form and attacking prowess they showed in the Asian Cup, can they be confident enough to beat their opponents?
