The 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers will begin soon with 36 teams participating. The national soccer team will have two tough matches in November against Thailand and South Korea. With the recent performance of the national soccer team, it will be very difficult to fight for a draw in both matches. If we lose these two matches, it basically means that we don't even have a chance of making it to the Round of 18. Now, the number of places in the Asian zone of the World Cup has increased to 8.5. If the national soccer team can't even make it into the top eight in the Asian zone, it really won't just be difficult to advance in this tournament, but it will also be very difficult to progress in the future given the lack of talent.
Now, the only way to easily reach the World Cup finals is to apply for the World Cup and become a World Cup host country. However, the venues have already been decided in 2026 and 2030 and it is not Asia's turn to host the event.Immediately after the 2030 World Cup venue was officially announced, FIFA started the bidding process for the 2034 World Cup and gave one month to the countries to submit their applications. Now that the application deadline has come and gone, only the Saudi Arabian Football Federation has submitted an application, which has been supported by the majority of national football associations.
In terms of AFC member associations, the Australian Football Association (AFA) has expressed its support for Saudi Arabia's commitment, in addition to Australia and the Chinese Football Association (CFA), which announced it was dropping its commitment on the last day of the application period. Australia was originally the representative of Oceania, which was also eligible to bid, and was a rival to Saudi Arabia. However, Australia ultimately announced that they were dropping their hosting as they both supported Saudi Arabia in a big way. Thus, among the AFC member associations, only the Chinese Football Association (CFA) did not make any statement, neither expressing support nor announcing its abandonment. FIFA and AFC do not seem to have noticed this at all.
Other Asian member associations have openly expressed their willingness to do so, only our soccer association has not responded and remained silent, something our fans did not expect. Either generously declare support for Saudi Arabia, which could also sell personal feelings, or try to apply for a commitment to take on a positive confrontation with Saudi Arabia to see if we can compete with them, which is highly unlikely, but nothing is lost by trying. But what does doing nothing now make the fans at home think? Is it a slow or weak response, is it disdain or is it a case of holding your anger?
After Saudi Arabia officially applied for the 2034 World Cup, Japan announced that it would apply for the 2050 World Cup alongside its support. According to the mobility principle, if we don't get another 2050, we have to wait until 2062. I'm sure most fans don't have the passion at that point. Of course, if we don't host the World Cup, then I'm afraid we'll have a hard time seeing the national soccer team make it to the World Cup on their own merits.
