Chinese soccer came out with breaking news on July 27, when the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers for the Asian Cup was held in Kuala Lumpur. The national soccer team landed in Group C with South Korea, Thailand and the winner of Singapore/Guam. This is certainly bad news for the national team's head coach, Jankovic.
The national team was ranked 11th in Asia and could not be seeded due to a poor performance in the last world qualifying tournament and failure to gain enough points in previous warm-up matches. It could only enter the draw as the second tier and ended up in a group with South Korea, Thailand and the winner of the match between Singapore and Guam. As we all know, the national team, although under the guidance of Gao Hongbo to overcome the fear of South Korea, but with South Korea's strength gap is too large. South Korea specializes in Jankovic's play style of pursuing physicality and aggressive scrambling, so the national team will have to aim for second place in the group.
However, Thailand's strength has also risen dramatically in the past two years. Fans still remember the 1-5 match. In addition, the national soccer team lost to Vietnam in the last World Qualifier and fell to its lowest point. It's safe to say that the national soccer team isn't sure it's going to beat Thailand. However, it does not pose a threat to the national soccer team in either Guam or Singapore. Therefore, the national soccer team is divided into a group with South Korea and Thailand, which is also regarded as the next best thing.
For the national soccer team, South Korea and Thailand in the same group, journalist Song Chengliang confessed that the death group basically gives you three or four of the strongest teams. The national soccer team continued the tradition of drawing death groups for teams at all levels during this period. The Asian Football Confederation was quick to retaliate. Although Song Chengliang did not disclose specific information, the situation not only dealt a major blow to the national soccer team, including Wu Lei and Eckerson, but also surprised Gao Hongbo, who was in charge of the national soccer team. Fans also expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation.
Some fans say, "For national soccer teams, any group with more than one team is a death group. Why enter the World Cup if you can't even play in Thailand? The purpose of entering the World Cup is to improve, and you can't even get through Thailand without entering! Some fans say, "Any group with strength is easy to sign. Without strength, any group is a death group. There is no other way but to fight. Besides, if you can't finish second in this group, what courage do you have to participate in the World Cup?"
Of course there are fans who say this, "There are fights to be had! With Wu Lei doing well so far, and naturalized players Eckerson, Fernando and Li Ke also doing well, we are fully capable of going toe-to-toe with Thailand! When Gao Hongbo led Jiangsu to victory over South Korea, even with only half a team, it's possible to get points against South Korea with Jankovic being able to reuse the naturalized players, and then recalling Luo Guofu and Alan!"
