On May 27th, Beijing time, the official notice of the AFC was announced: in order to ensure the fairness of the tournament, all the results of the group stage of the 40-team tournament in which the North Korean team participated will be null and void. In addition, the results of the confrontation between the second and fifth place teams in Groups A through G will not be counted after the completion of the 40-team tournament. Accordingly, on May 30, China's match against Guam, a victory can secure three points, goal difference data is no longer meaningful. In this context, the head coach of the national football team, Li Tie, should send the strongest lineup in the match on the 30th, has become a question worthy of careful consideration.
Points rule change, national soccer team goes all out to win
China is currently second in Group A with seven points from two wins, one draw and one loss, with a goal difference of 11, the fewest points among the eight groups. However, China has played one less game, and if the Guam victory is not taken into account, the actual number of points is only 4. The goal difference of 11 is the second highest among the 8 groups, second only to Kuwait's 14, but 7 of those goals come from Guam, and if the Guam battle is not counted, China will have scored only 4 goals.
In this scenario, China's matches against the Maldives on June 3 and the Philippines on June 9 are crucial. If they want to qualify as the second best-placed team in the group, China must take all six points in these two matches, and the effective points will rise to 10. China will then be able to take the initiative in the final round against Syria, who are already out of the group ahead of schedule. If they can't beat the Philippines at home, China's situation will become passive and depend on the performance of other teams in the group.
However, compared with the last World Qualifying Tournament, where only the best four teams advanced, five of the eight teams in this tournament can advance to the final 12. If the national football team plays normally, it is not difficult to get out of the line as a whole.
Li Tie faces dilemma in first match against Guam
According to the schedule, China will face Guam on May 30 at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Center. Prior to that, the Chinese team has a clear goal, both to win the game, but also to fight for more goal difference. In the recent training of the national football team, Li Tie has lined up the strongest offensive lineup. But with the adjustment of the AFC tournament system, the battle of Guam is more like a warm-up, the actual value is not big.
For Li Tie and the coaching team, they are faced with a key decision: whether to send out the strongest lineup for warm-ups, or to continue the tactical stealth and try to surprise the opponents in the Philippine match?
