Qatar World Cup Asian Qualifiers Highlights Matchups
Qatar 2022, June 8, 1 a.m. BST
World Cup
Group A of the second round of the Asian qualifiers and the 40-team tournament sees a new round of matches. China's men's national soccer team led by Li Tie will face the Philippines at the Sharjah Stadium in the United Arab Emirates. Syria has locked up the top two spots in the group ahead of schedule, and the only way for our team to have a chance of advancing to the Round of 12 is to win all three of their final matches. With their fate in their own hands, the Philippines are a tough hurdle for the Iron Family to overcome.
On May 30th, the Chinese national team beat Guam 7-0 at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Center, ushering in the opening of Li Tie's 17-month coaching career, and on May 31st, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced that the remaining matches of the 40-team tournament would be transferred to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The "right place, right time, right people" that had been carefully prepared for the game instantly collapsed.
Media reports indicate that the Syrian Football Association and the Olympic Organizing Committee played a key role in this incident, bringing great trouble to the Chinese men's football team in the remaining matches of the 40-team tournament, especially this match. The good thing is that the national football players keep a good mentality, Li Tie said: "All arrangements are the best arrangements! The only way to move forward is to be united and work hard! I was particularly touched by a saying: 'Where you are, the home field is where you are'! Thank you for the support of all the fans and friends!"
At 9 a.m. on June 3, the entire 29-member national football team left Suzhou for Shanghai and then took a chartered flight to Dubai. After more than ten hours of travel, they arrived at the resident hotel in Sharjah at 1:00 a.m. Beijing time on June 4, only 96 hours before the match against the Philippines. The team numbered 29 because the CFA called up Ji Xiang, Liu Binbin and Tan Long to the squad again as a precautionary measure and the whole team practiced at the Taihu Football Sports Center in Suzhou before departure.
Before this round of matches, the situation in Group A is: Syria has won all six matches to lock the top two of the group in advance, only one step away from determining the top of the group. China's men's soccer team 5 games and 10 points in the second place, according to the rules, four of the eight groups (or five, if the 2022
World Cup
The host country Qatar will either finish top of the group or the next best of the four, with the next best team with the fifth-best result also qualifying for the third round.) The second-best team will still have a chance to qualify for the third round. The Philippines are in third place with seven points from five matches. Because of the withdrawal of North Korea from Group H, the results of the eight second-placed teams will not be taken into account when comparing results against the bottom team in the group, and the Chinese men's soccer team, with its seventh-placed status, still has the hope of jumping into the upper half of the list.
As FIFA has closed the access to the records of the national team's A-level competitions, there is a lack of official records of the match between the Chinese men's soccer team and the Philippine team. However, what is certain is that the Chinese men's soccer team previously held an overwhelming advantage over the Philippines. According to the data provided by the People's Daily Online, the Chinese men's football team previously played against the Philippines 12 times, the Chinese men's football team 11 wins, 1 draw scored 56 goals and only lost 1 goal. However, in October 2019, the first round match between the two sides in this World Preliminary 40, the Chinese men's football team shot 35 times but exchanged 0-0 with the Philippines, when Yang Xu, Wu Lei and Artemis Jun Min all missed several scoring opportunities.
From the big win over Guam, the Tiejia Army is getting better at attacking set pieces, but the first half wasn't really smooth. Because there is no real high center forward in this team, so you can see that Li Tie does not want to let this team play the kind of simple and rough style of long pass and hang style of play. Against the Philippine team, which is clearly superior to the Guam team, tactically, the Chinese team must need to be more efficient, not to mention that the last three games are also about the Chinese men's soccer team and the second-place team of the other group "competition".
The current Philippine team is full of naturalized players who were born abroad but chose to represent the Philippine national team because one of their fathers or mothers is Filipino. Veteran midfielder Reichert, who has played the most games for the national team in this unit, was born in West Berlin, Germany, and 36-year-old forward Guirado was born in Malaga, Spain. Eleven of this unit played in that 0-0 draw against the Chinese men's soccer team in 2019, including captain Schrock. But goalkeeper Etheridge, who has just completed a major life event to finish his marriage, was not included in this roster.
The Philippine team, which had been preparing for the match in Doha, Qatar, was supposed to charter a flight to China on May 31 local time, but with epidemics presenting themselves in the Syria and Maldives teams, they were told to stay in the region as well. The AFC then announced the news of the change of venue for the match, and the Philippine team arrived in Sharjah a few hours earlier than the Chinese men's soccer team on June 3, but of course their flight distance was much less than the Chinese men's soccer team.
In the match against the Chinese men's soccer team, Spanish-born defense stalwart Silva will be suspended for accumulating yellow cards, and under normal circumstances, De Murga will be tasked with "directing" the defense. Because head coach Scott Cooper has been with the Philippine national team for many years, and is also the coach of the ADT (a team of young players who have a way out to play in the Philippine domestic league, and this time four players were promoted to the national team) salon team, he is already well versed in the team's tuning and style of play.
Before the resumption of the 40-team tournament, Scott Cooper shouted that he would lead the team to strive for three consecutive victories, and captain Schrock expressed similar views after the change of venue for the tournament. However, the hard power of this force is still at least one level lower than that of the Chinese men's soccer team, especially in the back line, which is missing two important players. For the Tiejia Army, the objective difficulties of traveling and hot and humid climate already exist, how to overcome the difficulties to get the desired results is the most important. Wu Lei, Wu Xi and Ixon, Allan, these Chinese men's soccer midfielders will once again face and meet the challenge. In order to enter the Asian Top 12, playing the Philippines, the Tiejia Army has no way back, must win! (Cheuk Ao Yau)
Expected China men's soccer debut: Yan Junling; Stanley Wang, Jiang Guangtai, Zhang Linpeng, Tang Miao; Wu Xinghan, Wu Xi, Zhang Xunzhe, Wu Lei; Aixon, Alan
