On Nov. 17, the men of Chinese soccer were featured in the first round of the 36-team World Qualifying Tournament. They earned a 2-1 win on the road against Thailand and finished second in the group behind South Korea. South Korea's smooth sailing performance in the first round of group matches, where they swept aside Singapore with a lopsided 5-0 scoreline, may have given them some slack in their upcoming matches. Facing the Chinese men's soccer team in their second group game, the Koreans will undoubtedly aim to go all out for a win. Whoever accumulates six points first in the group stage will basically lock up the top spot in the group.
The Chinese men's soccer team also won their first round match. As we return to our home field, we are all eager to collect a perfect victory. However, there is a clear power gap between us and South Korea, and it's not easy to beat our opponents. Therefore, we need to adopt a more pragmatic style of play. We must strengthen our defense to ensure we don't concede any goals and look for counter-attacking opportunities in defense. As a matter of fact, the Chinese men's soccer team created many good scoring opportunities in the match against Thailand.
The victory against Thailand surprised us with how quickly the team's defensive counterattacking efficiency and quality improved. In defense, the team showed the quality of efficient counterattacks, making it tricky for the Thai defense. Against South Korea, it is entirely possible that we could have broken the deadlock with a few quality counter-attacks. After all, Singapore also came close to breaking through the South Korean goal, only to be undone by an offside. South Korea's defense is not impenetrable.
In particular, players such as Wei Shihao, Xie Pengfei and Wu Lei are outstanding in their individual abilities in counterattacks. Although Wu Lei's shooting skills are poor and he misses single goals continuously, he can at least run out of his position and score when he seizes the opportunity. Therefore, the Chinese men's soccer team has a great chance to win against South Korea. Even in the second half of the match with Thailand, Jankovic decisively replaced Wei Shihao, who had the best performance.
Jankovic showed a strong desire to beat South Korea. In the absence of Jiang Guangtai, the backline players played quite solidly. Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Shenglong and Zhu Chenjie have shown the level of top Asian defenders. Therefore, it is believed that China's backline will be able to gain confidence from the match against Thailand and show even more momentum in the upcoming matches, striving to beat South Korea at home.
