After the smoke from the World Cup Qualifying Tournament (the first round of the qualifying tournament) has cleared, the pattern of the participating teams has become clear. Chinese soccer will face South Korea, Thailand and Singapore in a fierce competition. After a total of six rounds of home and away matches, the top and second best teams from each group will win tickets to the third round (i.e. Round of 16). The third and fourth-placed teams will have to take a break from the tournament to start building up for the 2030 World Cup.
However, the schedule of the second round does not seem to be favorable for the Chinese team. With the drums of war beating in the second round, the top 36 will be whittled down to the top 18, a round that spans six months. The Chinese soccer team will challenge Thailand on the road in mid-November, while the final match is scheduled for mid-June the following year, hosting the "Taiji Tigers" in South Korea. From the layout of the schedule, China and South Korea will undoubtedly be the most balanced two teams in this group. The showdown between the two teams is scheduled for the second and sixth rounds, which is obviously unfavorable to the Chinese team. After all, in just five days after the first round against Thailand, the team will be transferred to the home to face South Korea, the adjustment time seems particularly tight. By the sixth round, the Chinese team will again face South Korea. If the team fails to accumulate enough points, it may face a fight to the death. This is undoubtedly a big test for Yang Kovic and his team, especially when facing relatively weak opponents such as Thailand and Singapore. Going into the third round, the top 18 teams in Asia will compete, with six of them advancing directly. In light of the expansion of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, which saw the number of teams increase to 48, the number of spots in the Asian zone has also increased to 8.5 from 5.5 in the past. Despite the schedule changes, the Chinese men's soccer team will still need to go all out to beat their opponents and earn enough points to advance. After all, a place in the tournament is not within reach. If the team advances to the third round, i.e. the top 18 in the Asian zone, the team will be divided into three groups for the tournament. The top two teams from each group will directly qualify for the World Cup, while the third and fourth place finishers from the three groups will have to enter the fourth round of the World Cup. In the fourth round, the six teams will be divided into two groups for a single round-robin tournament. Two teams from each group will advance directly to the World Cup, while the other two teams will have to play play-offs against teams from other continents, making the competition much more difficult. According to FIFA's standings, China and South Korea are expected to break through to the second round and qualify for the third round. If they can be assigned to a relatively weak group (after all, strong teams such as Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Australia will be scattered throughout the groups), China's chances of advancing to the World Cup will be greatly improved. However, if they lose in both the third and fourth rounds, the hope of entering the fourth round will become extremely slim.
