Qatar's players did not blindly seek victory in a heartbreaking 0-2 defeat. Looking back at the 2019 Asian Cup, Qatar had beaten Japan while South Korea eventually won the title. However, Qatar's gold-dollar soccer was also shown to be impotent in front of South American underdogs Ecuador.
Tonight, Iran's debut raised eyebrows - despite the loss of their starting keeper. However, the replacement keeper was consistent, England's attack was as impenetrable as ever, Iran's counter-attacks were almost impossible to talk about, and those sporadic chances of a counter-attack were quickly neutralized.
Tomorrow night, the "World Cup Tragedy Makers" will be challenged by Saudi Arabia, who will be battling Argentina, led by Lionel Messi. It's hard to predict the outcome of this matchup - it all seems to hinge on the performance of Japan and South Korea.
It has to be said that the strength of the Chinese men's soccer team seems to be insufficient to reach the stage of the World Cup for the time being. There are mountains beyond the mountains, if we do not try to improve the inner strength, the gap with the strongest teams is undoubtedly a world of difference.
