The long-awaited 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico is approaching, and with the expansion of FIFA's map, the Asian soccer map is thus subdivided into 8.5 seats, the likelihood of China's men's soccer team obtaining a ticket to the World Cup is greatly enhanced. Many fans are eagerly looking forward to China's men's soccer team to revitalize their spirit and embark on the World Cup journey again. Looking back 22 years ago, the 2001 Korea-Japan World Cup was the last time the Chinese men's soccer team traveled to the World Cup. Since then, the Chinese men's soccer team has repeatedly flirted with the World Cup.
Now that FIFA has granted the Chinese men's soccer team a qualification, will the team be able to capitalize on the opportunity? Judging from the current strength of the Chinese men's soccer team, this is certainly a daunting task. We note that in the 24-man squad for the World Qualifiers prepared for the World Cup, naturalized player Eickson was excluded, while Kang Kwang-tae and Li Ke, who are naturalized by blood, were selected. Some fans have pointed out that the management style of the Chinese men's soccer team under Song Kai's leadership is clearly inclined to represent Chinese soccer - after all, different leaders have different management philosophies.
Those who are familiar with soccer know that naturalized players are generally better than local players in terms of physical quality and soccer talent. The national football team intends to naturalize players, which makes some fans worry that the performance of the national football team may decline as a result. However, surprisingly, Jiang Guangtai, a naturalized player from Shanghai Port, was suddenly injured on the eve of the training and could not participate in the training, therefore, Jiang Guangtai missed the first two rounds of the 36 matches. Meanwhile, the national soccer team called up Shenzhen team defender Xu Haofeng to participate in the training. It is worth noting that Shenzhen has been relegated to the Central League A, which has left many fans confused about Yang Kovic's recruiting strategy.
Meanwhile, many fans are flirting with the idea that Yang Kovic's time as head coach of the national soccer team is running out. Yang Kovic's coaching ability has been called into question by the Chinese men's soccer team's recent performances in several warm-up matches, including a 1-1 draw with Malaysia, a 0-1 defeat against Syria, and a 1-2 loss to Uzbekistan, which has left many fans doubly disappointed. For Jankovic, the upcoming first match of the World Qualifying Tournament in Thailand is crucial, and if he fails to win in Thailand, he may lose the initiative to advance.
As a result, many fans speculated that Yankovic might be fired. Some fans teased that the new Football Association leadership team would like to see the Chinese men's soccer team win even if the players perform poorly. Meanwhile, many fans believe that Shandong Taishan coach Cui Kangxi is suitable to replace Yang Kovic. During his tenure at Shandong Taishan, Cui led the team to the Super League title against Shanghai Port and double-killed South Korea's Incheon United in the AFC Champions League, tiring out South Korean players with his strengths that should not be underestimated.
This season, Shandong Taishan suffered some major blows, as the coach Hao Wei was arrested on suspicion of match-fixing, the team's players were investigated on suspicion of match-fixing, and the assistant coach led the team to a loss. Subsequently, Cui Kangxi was appointed to the team and showed excellent coaching ability, and is expected to replace Yang Kovic as the coach of the Chinese men's soccer team.
After all, it is not realistic for the Chinese men's soccer team to develop players at this stage if they want to make it to the 2026 World Cup; instead, the national team's current players are in poor physical condition and have big tempers, such as Wei Shihao. We witnessed Wei Shihao being mocked by the Vietnamese media when he was red-carded for stepping on an opponent without warning while following his team away to Hanoi FC in the AFC Champions League, and many Chinese fans have expressed their displeasure with Wei and called for his dismissal by the national team.
Those who are familiar with soccer know that Wei Shihao has repeatedly received red cards, can't control his emotions on the field, and has repeatedly brought shame to Chinese soccer. Many fans have expressed their dissatisfaction with this, believing that such players should be expelled from the national team because of their limited ability and constant trouble, which is not conducive to the team's good results.
