Recently, the AFC announced the process for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and 2027 AFC qualifiers, and the draw will be held on the afternoon of July 27 at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.Can 8.5 places be shared, for the Chinese men's football team, who finished second in the Asian zone of the world qualifiers?
Adjustment of the rules of the World Qualifying Tournament
In 2026, the World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be expanded to 48 teams, with Asia earning 8.5 spots. The AFC has adjusted the competition rules for the World Qualifying Tournament. There will be 45 member associations in Asia to participate in this world qualifying tournament, and the AFC will select the 18 lowest-ranked teams to participate in the first qualifying round based on the latest FIFA rankings released on July 20th. China, ranked 79th in the world and 11th in Asia, will take part in the second round of the World Qualifying Tournament as the second team in the draw.
The second round will be held from November this year to June next year in a double round-robin system of home and away matches. In the second round, the top 2 of 9 groups of 18 teams will advance to the third round of the World Qualifying Tournament and will also qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup finals in Saudi Arabia. The third round of 18 is the last 12 of the past qualifiers in Asia. The group draw at this stage will be held in 2024. The 18 teams will then be divided into three groups of six teams each who will play a double round-robin system at home and away. The top two six teams from each group will go straight through to the 2026 World Cup finals. The other two direct World Cup places will be chosen in the fourth round.
Offense and defense need refinement
Looking at the rankings alone, the Chinese men's soccer team is ranked 11th in Asia, not far from the 8.5 spot. However, the World Qualifying Tournament is not about rankings, it's about overall strength. Ultimately, the key to entering the World Cup is whether the Chinese men's soccer team can be ranked in the top nine in Asia.
Currently, the coaching staff of the national soccer team with Jankovic as the head coach is running around in various Chinese Super League matches to comprehensively examine international players. For the national football team, the problems exposed in the two warm-up matches in June should be focused on the next stage of preparation. In the match against Myanmar, the problem for the national soccer team was the slow adjustment of the attacking rhythm, not seeing one thing and another in the face of the high level of robbery and quick counterattacks of the opponent. As for the battle with Palestine, the national football team's offense and stability improved, but the defense was still unstable, and the opponent's shot hit the Chinese goal frame twice.
These problems are related to the team's lack of core players. Zheng Zhi and Artemisia Junmin as the representative of a generation of excellent players have retired, the Chinese team needs more excellent midfielders to improve the speed of the transition between attack and defense, which is obviously the future of the national football team to solve the problem.
