FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
Bhavya Chadha
During the ongoing international break, we have to turn our attention to the Asian World Cup qualifiers. The AFC features some great teams like Japan, Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These teams are represented by some of the best players in the world and the quality of Asian football has improved exponentially in recent years.
Both nations are in Group C in the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Japan are seven points clear at the top of the group. The Samurai Blue have 13 points to their name from their opening five matches. They are yet to lose a single game in the group and are huge favourites to make the World Cup.
China on the other hand are currently placed fourth in Group C. With two wins and three losses in their opening five matches, The Dragon Team have accumulated 6 points. They are level on points with Australia and Saudi Arabia in the group and it will be interesting to see whether they will register a place in the next round or not.
See you in Xiamen!🔥#CFA #China #TeamDragon #TeamChina #AsianQualifiers #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/EI0nmpBgIJ
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 5:30 PM IST
Venue: Xiamen Egret Stadium
China (in all competitions): W-W-L-L-L
Japan (in all competitions): W-D-W-W-W
Despite China’s home advantage, Japan are expected to dominate the game. China will have to be near perfect at the back to stop Japan’s flawless attack and this makes Shenglong Jiang China’s most important player in this game. He hardly makes any mistakes and brings composure to China’s backline. If he plays a great game, Japan will have a very hard time in breaching China’s defence.
Takefusa Kubo, most commonly known as Take Kubo is one of the brightest attacking talents in world football. He joined Real Sociedad from Real Madrid for a small fee back in 2022 and has proved his quality on multiple occasions. His most recent performance against FC Barcelona reflects that he is in great form right now and a great performance will be expected from him in the upcoming match.
𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼📸#南野拓実 #SAMURAIBLUE 初招集からこれまでの写真をお届け🙌(1/5)🏆FIFA #ワールドカップ 26アジア最終予選(3次予選)🗓️11.19(火)⌚️21:00(🇯🇵)🆚中国代表🇨🇳🏟️Xiamen Egret Stadium(中国)📱DAZNで無料配信(https://t.co/M74ej4I3vh)🔗https://t.co/zsgMzAbrqe… pic.twitter.com/oJMwv0W03E
Li Lei suffered an injury during China’s latest encounter against Bahrain. He might miss out for the home side.
The away team on the other hand have their full squad available for selection.
Total matches: 14
China won: 1
Japan won: 8
Draws: 5
Wang(GK); Yang, Jiang, Zhu, Hu; Li, Wang, Lin; Wei; Zhang, Abuduwaili
Suzuki(GK); Hashioka, Itakura, Machida; Mitoma, Morita, Endõ, Doan; Kubo, Minamino; Ogawa
The away side are coming into this game as huge favourites. They have dominated the entire group so far and are poised to qualify for the next World Cup after topping the group. China are picking up form after two back-to-back wins but this match will prove to be a very different and difficult test for them.
Match Prediction: China 0-3 Japan
India – Fancode
Indonesia – GTV
Japan – DAZN
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