While the 2026 World Cup is in full swing, China's national soccer team suffered its first major defeat on July 27, Beijing time.
On this very day, the group draw for the World Cup qualifiers in Asia came to an end. China is one of the 36 strongest teams in the world, with South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Guam winners in the same group, of which Singapore has a high chance of winning. The competition in this group is so fierce that it is known as the "Group of Death".
Looking back at history, the national soccer team has lost many matches with South Korea, and suffered a 1:5 loss against Thailand, which won the Southeast Asian Championship in early 2023 and has been developing rapidly. The strength of Singapore is not to be underestimated, far more than Guam. Therefore, the national soccer team is in this group, the situation is worrying.
However, the national soccer coach Kovic showed a tough counterattack attitude, which added a glimmer of hope for the national soccer team to keep the second position in the group. In the last 12-team tournament, the national soccer team was only fifth, but its strength is not to be underestimated, and it was able to at least advance from the top 40 to the top 12.
Kovic's strategy has begun to see the first signs, he began early to build the national team with the core players of the AFC BIG4. Previously, the list of national football team raised questions, Jankovic favored the strongest teams in the league to select players, such as Wuhan Sanzhen, Shandong Taishan, seaport and other four teams have a total of 17 international players, while the other teams only 7, this practice is considered unfair. But now it seems that the selection of international players from the AFC Champions League teams has become the main strategy of the new coach.
This year's Asian Champions League adopts an inter-annual system, the participating teams have no matches in November and only train, which cannot guarantee the amount of training and the intensity of the matches, and it is difficult to adapt to the rhythm of the World Cup qualifiers. The Chinese Super League season ended on November 4, and the national team then plunged into the World Cup qualifiers. Therefore, selecting players from the AFC Champions League team and making sure they are in top form is a key strategy for Jankovic. Now, South Korea and Thailand may have gotten carried away, but it's still too early for the national team to attack their strengths and weaknesses.
