In the fireworks of the 12-team tournament, apart from the Japan-Australia showdown, there have been no cold streaks. If you call it a "little cold", perhaps the 1-1 draw between the national soccer team and Australia in Sharjah is a case in point, and this battle will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the final pattern of the group.
In the top group, Iran and South Korea, the United Arab Emirates (6 points), Lebanon (5 points), Iraq (4 points), Syria (2 points) and other four teams into the mix, each other more than a draw to the end of the game, the points difference is minimal, a game win or lose enough to rewrite the whole situation. The second group where the national football team is also so, Oman (7 points) and the national football team (5 points) face Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and other three top teams, the gap is obvious, even if the two teams rose to the top of the list of the group, it is difficult to reverse the whole situation.
This precisely maps out the huge gap between the first group and the second group in Asia, and can even be said to be a "gap". Despite the large number of teams in the second group, it is extremely difficult to break the monopoly of the first group on the Asian qualifying places.
In fact, this is not a phenomenon unique to this World Qualifying Tournament. Looking back at the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Russia, five teams - South Korea, Japan, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia - managed to advance; in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Brazil, four teams - South Korea, Japan, Australia and Iran - came out of the qualifying rounds; and in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in South Africa, three of the top three teams - South Korea, Japan and Australia - advanced, with only North Korea accidentally breaking into the tournament. These histories clearly warn us: to advance within Asia, we must beat at least one, or even two, of the above five teams in order to have hope. With the current overall strength and level of Chinese soccer, it is clear that it does not have such strength.
Vietnam, as the only representative of Southeast Asia, had no results in the first six rounds for the first time since the final stage of the 2010 World Qualifying Tournament in Asia. I'm afraid this is a true reflection of the gap between the level of soccer in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Asia as a whole! Despite the fact that in recent years, the Vietnamese team has performed well, achieving better results in the Asian Cup, Asian Games, U23 Asian Cup and other tournaments, but to be truly among the second-class ranks of Asia, the first six rounds of this 12-team tournament has fully proved the problem.
In this context, recalling the various domestic "hype" on the Vietnamese team, over-exaggerating its overall strength and level, while constantly underestimating the national football team itself, I am afraid it is worth thinking about. Including now began to speculate on the so-called "next year's New Year's Day away game against Vietnam is a hurdle" and so on, to a certain extent, exposed the lack of self-confidence, unable to objectively evaluate the overall level of Chinese soccer and Asian soccer specific performance.
2. The gap with Europe is still huge
After the full round of 12 matches, there have been calls for a "biennial" World Cup. From a commercial point of view, and from the perspective of mobilizing more countries and regions to develop soccer, this may be a meaningful proposal. But from the competitive level, whether the 2026 World Cup expansion, or evolve into a two-year World Cup, the value and significance of the World Cup will be greatly depreciated.
It is a simple fact that Qatar, the hosts of the 2022 World Cup, were involved in the competition in Group 1 of the European zone during the conduct of the 12-team tournament, during which they played six matches with the following record:
2021.09.04 Qatar vs Portugal 1-3
2021.09.09 Luxembourg vs Qatar 1-1
2021.10.09 Portugal vs Qatar 3-0
2021.10.12 Ireland vs Qatar 4-0
2021.11.11 Serbia vs Qatar 4-0
2021.11.14 Azerbaijan vs Qatar 2-2
The Qatari team has two draws and four losses in six matches, and has not won a single match. And this is also in the case of European teams accompanied by the Qatar team "warm-up" games. Qatar team as the Asian champions, to deliver such an answer sheet, to some extent, has clearly told us: Asia in addition to a few traditional first group of troops, basically there is no counterbalance with the strength of the European teams and capital.
Not only Qatar, but other Asian teams that failed to qualify for the Top 12 also used the national team competition window to arrange a number of warm-up matches with European teams during the Top 12, with the approximate results as follows:
2021.09.04 Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Kuwait 1-0
2021.09.05 Sweden vs Uzbekistan 2-1
2021.11.11 Czech Republic vs. Kuwait 7-0
2021.11.15 Lithuania vs Kuwait 1-1
2021.11.15 Georgia vs Uzbekistan 1-0
2021.11.16 Kazakhstan vs Tajiks 1-0
2021.11.10 Kosovo vs Jordan 0-2
2021.11.16 Belarus vs Jordan 1-0
In the eight friendly matches, except for Jordan's victory over Kosovo, ranked 113th in the world, only Kuwait drew with Lithuania, ranked 135th in the world, and the other six matches were all losses, and even Kuwait had a 0-7 defeat against the Czech Republic. The Czechs are now in the European qualifiers and still need to go through the play-offs to determine whether they can get a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar.
From the above simple statistics, I am afraid that the distance between Asian soccer and European soccer has not been substantially reduced for decades. This is also why has been advocating the important reason to stay in the ocean, to the Australian team, for example, this time 12 in the tournament has not been like the year Viduka, Cahill, Schwarzer and many other big names from the Premier League or the Big Five, but more from the European second-rate clubs, but still in the 12 round of the tournament before the six rounds of the tournament to maintain the advantage, the reason I am afraid that is the overall level of the European two or three levels higher than the Asian soccer.
3. Normal reflection of the positioning of the national football points
From the Chinese men's football team itself, the results and points of the first six matches of the 12 strong, the same is considered a normal reflection of the overall level of Chinese soccer and the positioning of the entire Asian football world. Can not enter the World Cup should be said to have long been in most people's expectations, although this is not the same as from the beginning to give up on the requirements to enter the World Cup, is not the same as to negate the efforts of the current Chinese soccer community.
In June this year after the end of the 40 strong match, I believe that most fans agree with the statement that the Chinese men's football into the 12 strong match is a task that must be accomplished, but the World Cup line may not be, because this is more in line with the real position of the Chinese men's football now. And in the whole process, a series of problems in the domestic soccer world have made the competitive level of Chinese soccer to some extent, showing a downward trend, relying only on the national team to stop the slide is very unrealistic, and even to some extent is a kind of unreasonable demanding. Of course, this and trying to fulfill the requirements to enter the World Cup are two different levels.
As far as the first six matches of the Top 12 are concerned, on the whole, the normal level of play was normal, and all the points that should be taken were taken! Despite the twists and turns in the match against Vietnam, from a 2-0 lead to a 2-2 draw, it was a 3-2 shutout with no surprises. In the match against Australia, through the efforts of the whole team, the final 1-1 draw was made, and 1 point was snatched from the opponent. If the goal was not accomplished, I am afraid that the match against Oman should be able to get 3 points, but in the end, it was only a draw.
In the first round of matches against Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia, the Chinese men's soccer team lost all three matches, which is actually a normal result, and can even be said to be the strength of the game. Although there were some unfortunate aspects of the match, especially the 2-3 loss to Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, which seems to be a pity, many people are making all kinds of assumptions, but soccer never believes in assumptions. A loss is a loss, and we must first be brave enough to face it and admit it.
From another point of view, the 12 strong group draw, the Chinese team in the Asian range of ranking is the eighth, the overall level of Chinese soccer is now in Asia is between 8 to 10 places. Six rounds of matches played, the Chinese men's soccer team is now 5 points in the 12 strong tournament in addition to the group ranked fifth, the whole 12 is also ranked 8th-9th. Unsurprisingly, by the time FIFA releases its latest rankings next week, the Chinese team will still be ranked eighth in Asia.
Therefore, no matter from which point of view, the national football team's points, ranking and overall level of embodiment and play, basically belong to the normal state. What's more, the World Cup such a competition, and not just a coach, more than 10 players on the field can be decided, but also the entire country's soccer system, soccer operations and management system, such as an all-round competition.
Compared with the past, this time the outside world on the men's football expectations are higher, an important reason lies in the naturalized and naturalized players to participate in, because most people in the fantasy that these people can increase the weight of Chinese soccer into the World Cup. But the reality is that the emergence of Aixon, and can not enhance the overall level of Chinese soccer, so that the Chinese soccer has a sudden change, just let the Chinese soccer to slow down the decline of the speed of just!
Chinese soccer is neither as optimistic as some people fantasize, and certainly not as pessimistic as others. This is the reality!
