Chinese players who lost in the group stage to Qatar on the 23rd. / Shinhwa Yonhap News
Chinese soccer, which has recently suffered a series of humiliations on the international stage, suffered the humiliation of being eliminated without scoring a goal in the group stage at the 2023 AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Asian Cup.
China bowed 0-1 to Qatar in the final match of Group A of the tournament held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on the 23rd (Korean time). China, which had recorded a 0-0 draw with Tajikistan and Lebanon in both the first and second games, finished the group stage with 2 draws, 1 loss (2 points), and no goals, following Qatar (9 points) and Tajikistan (4 points). took 3rd place. In this tournament, the 1st and 2nd place teams from the 6 groups will advance directly to the round of 16, and the top 4 teams among the 3rd place teams will also advance to the round of 16.
China’s hopes of finishing third in the group and having to watch the other group’s matches were dashed immediately on this day. Group B Syria defeated India 1-0 in the final match of the group stage and ranked 3rd in the group with 4 points (1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss), while Group C Palestine defeated Hong Kong 3-0 and also ranked 3rd with 4 points (1 win, 1 loss). took 3rd place in the group with 1 draw and 1 loss.
With group matches remaining in Groups D-F on the 24th and 25th, China was defeated by Palestine in Group C, Syria in Group B (4 points), Bahrain in Group E, and Indonesia in Group D (3 points), failing to advance to the round of 16. .
Chinese soccer has never played in the World Cup finals except for the 2002 tournament, when Korea and Japan qualified as hosts and qualified relatively easily. Even for the 2026 North and Central America World Cup, where the number of tickets to participate has increased to 48, advancement to the finals cannot be guaranteed. The second Asian qualifying round is currently underway, and China (1 win, 1 loss) is in 3rd place in Group C (1 win, 1 loss, -2), following Korea (2 wins) and Thailand (1 win, 1 loss, +1 goal difference). Running. In the second preliminary round, the first and second place winners of the group advance to the final preliminary round.
Still, in the Asian Cup, they saved their pride by reaching the quarterfinals in both the 2015 Australia tournament and the 2019 UAE tournament, but this time, they were eliminated with a pathetic performance of no wins and no goals in the three group stage games, causing the anger of Chinese fans.
The criticism asking, “Out of a population of 1.4 billion people, why can’t they select 11 people who are good at kicking the ball?” is coming up again and again this time. In particular, while Korea and Japan are developing with numerous European players, Chinese fans are even more saddened by the reality of not having a single player playing for a big club. Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Thai Prime Minister Theta Tawisin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in October last year and said, “I am not confident about the level of our national team. “There are a lot of ups and downs,” he said.
2024-01-24 00:27:42
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