Facing a strong Japanese men's soccer team, even if our second team of national soccer team to play side by side, the victory or defeat is still difficult to predict. After all, no matter how strong a lineup we send to Japan to compete, the national football team always seems to be difficult to escape the fate of defeat. In this case, it would be better to adjust the lineup for the Bahrain game and let the players accumulate a yellow card so that they can collectively miss the subsequent match against Japan due to a yellow card ban. In this way, they will be able to return at full strength when they face Saudi Arabia next March. From the point of view of the rules of sports competition and sportsmanship, this strategy is a little bit "opportunistic", but FIFA can hardly be faulted for the reasonable use of the rules. This is reminiscent of China's ancient "Tian Ji horse racing" strategy.
Unfortunately, Ivankovic did not follow this strategy. In the Bahrain 0-1 match, the only attempt to "shuffle cards" was unsuccessful, as were the other six foreign players. As a result, if they accumulate yellow cards in Japan, they will be banned in March next year. In conclusion, Ivanovic failed to make full use of the rules, and the flaws in this match may become a major concern for the rest of the tournament.
