Amidst a surprise, Saudi Arabia, the perennial champions of Asian soccer, faced bottom-ranked Indonesia, only to lose by a jaw-dropping 0-2 score.
And in an equally baffling move, Australia were left sighing with a 2-2 handshake against second-bottom Bahrain.
However, behind these two cold results, the national football team in adversity captured a ray of hope, not only not by Saudi Arabia and Australia to open the score difference, but also with the opponents close, lucky to get a key help.
Despite the loss, the national soccer team is not in a desperate situation. The upcoming 7th round of matches will give the national soccer team a great opportunity to fight for points.
So where does such an opportunity come from?
The Saudi team is facing internal and external problems, with competition in the domestic league heating up and many players rarely getting a chance to play. In addition, a new coach has been appointed and the team is not yet in place.
Meanwhile, the national soccer team was given a full rest, but the FA missed out on two key boosts.
On the one hand, the Football Association (FA) has promised to adjust the start time of the next season's Chinese Super League (CSL) to coincide with the seventh round of the 18-team tournament, to ensure that the national football team will have sufficient time to prepare for the tournament. On the other hand, substantial progress has been made in the naturalization of players, with the possibility of Brazilian player Sergio joining the team increasing, and the process of naturalizing former Cangzhou Lions foreign aid player Oscar getting smoother and smoother.
If you can successfully introduce these two strong aid before next March, the strength of the national football team will be like a tiger with wings, and getting points on the road will no longer be a problem.
Elsewhere in Round 7, Bahrain is expected to be the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after its defeat on the road against Japan is almost a foregone conclusion.
Australia, on the other hand, have the upper hand against Indonesia, who will be reduced to the second team behind in the rankings once they gain three points.
Though the Aussies don't have an easy game ahead of them and still face the challenge of Japan and still risk being beaten.
By contrast, the most optimistic prediction for the national soccer team's remaining four matches is to draw away to Saudi Arabia, remain undefeated at home, and then achieve a double against Indonesia and Bahrain. In this way, the national soccer team will accumulate eight points and is expected to advance to the World Cup with 14 points.
Even if there are one or two mishaps, the hope of advancing to the next round remains as long as you can get more than 10 points and finish in the top four.
