On December 12, a tense Qatar
World Cup
Our men's soccer team will face Saudi Arabia away in Jeddah in the fourth round of the Group B matches of the Asian Zone Qualifiers.
This match may be the key to determining the group's exit. In Group B, Australia and Saudi Arabia are currently leading the way with nine points from three consecutive wins, while Japan, Oman and our team are tied with three points from one win and two losses. Vietnam, on the other hand, is at the bottom of the group with zero points. According to the rules, the top two teams in the group will directly advance to the
World Cup
The third-placed team qualifies for the play-offs. In the other match of this round, Japan will face Australia. If our team and Japan can't stop their opponents, Saudi Arabia and Australia will further widen the difference in points and take the initiative to get out of the tournament. Therefore, fighting for points has become the actual goal of our team.
The Saudis, who are at home and in great form, will undoubtedly give the
national soccer team
It poses a great challenge. In terms of world ranking, Saudi Arabia is ranked 56th, higher than our team's 75th. Although there are no well-known players from Europe in the Saudi Arabia team, they have demonstrated the strength of the top Asian team by defeating Japan, the "top seed" of the group, in the last round of matches with their fast style of play and tacit understanding of passing and control.
In addition, the match will be the first time in almost two years that our team will be playing in an away stadium with a crowd. There will be more than 60,000 spectators at the King Abdullah Stadium, the home ground of the Saudi team, which will put great pressure on the visiting team. Our team will also have to be prepared to deal with difficulties after Japan's captain, Maya Yoshida, lost control of his mind when he clashed with Saudi fans after the last round of matches.
In the first three matches of the 12 games, the Saudi Arabia starting lineup basically remained stable, the French head coach Lenard is likely to continue to use the mature "4231" attack system. Although the core of the attack Dawasari is injured, but the Saudi team still has Muwalad and Garib two small but very fast side of the good players. The main front man, Faraj, is the main attacking initiator, and he also has a strong left-footed long-distance shooting ability. Shehri, on the other hand, is the most relied upon weapon in the front line for the Saudis, as he has scored five goals for the team with a shot percentage of 43.8% since the start of the Top 40 World Cup.
In terms of offense, the Saudis are long on high-pressure pressing in front of the field, taking advantage of the opponent's mistakes to quickly break through and score. Left back Shahrani has a strong assisting ability, he and Ghalib will join forces to impact the right side of our team's weaker staffing. For our team, this game should first be based on defense, try to compress the opponent's offensive space. Previously injured foot Zhu Chenjie has recovered from injury to return to the team, for the
national soccer team
head coach
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
In the back line to provide more options, so that our team has the conditions to change the "five defenders". Defensive midfielders Jin Jingdao and Ji Zhongguo also have the opportunity to get a chance to start, partnering with Wu Xi at the back.
In order to score points against our opponents, our team must improve the quality of their counterattacks. In the previous matches against Japan, although our team did not make many mistakes in the defensive end, due to the lack of passing ability, we were unable to organize a threatening counterattack and failed to pose a threat to the Japanese goal. In this round, our team should learn a lesson, polish the details of the game in the phase of transition from defense to offense, and make good use of the
Wu Lei (1979-), Chinese footballer
, Eckerson's ability to counterattack and avoid being caught in a passive-aggressive situation.
Saudi Arabia is a traditional powerhouse in Asia, but in the historical meetings between the Chinese and Saudi teams, the
national soccer team
With 6 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses, they are not at a significant disadvantage. The last time these two teams met was in 2015
Asian cup (e.g. soccer)
On, our team won 1:0, when Artemisia Junmin, who started the game,
Wu Lei (1979-), Chinese footballer
The likes of Wu Xi and Zhang Linpeng are now still in the
national soccer team
In formation.
A number of players of our team said that the victory over Vietnam in the last round brought confidence and boosted the morale. 12 round of the tournament everything is possible, if we can put down the burden, correct position, our team still has the ability to create problems for the Saudi Arabia.
