President Xi Jinping said "the Chinese team was just lucky to beat Thailand"

President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Thavisin talk on the sidelines of the APEC conference in San Francisco, California, USA on November 17 (Photo: Social Network X).

In a post on social network X on November 18, the Thai government released a clip of a conversation between the two leaders, in which Xi Jinping said: "Our football team won against Thailand by luck. I don't trust our national football team."

Video sources said that President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Thavisin were having a conversation on the sidelines of the APEC conference in San Francisco, California, USA on November 17.

During the conversation, the Chinese leader said he could not play basketball because his "hands are too small" but insisted: "I can play soccer". Prime Minister Srettha laughed happily and replied in English: "Do you like soccer too? I like soccer too. The Chinese team just beat Thailand last night, so we cannot go on."

In the video, President Xi Jinping seems unaware of this as he responds, "Really?" However, the Chinese leader then surprisingly adds, "But we're just lucky. Because I'm not sure about the football team. I'm not sure about the level of the team. We have ups and downs."

According to sources, the Chinese leader once said that he really likes three sports: football, basketball and volleyball. Mr. Xi once said that he wanted to make China a football power before 2050 and wanted to send the Chinese team to the World Cup, organize the World Cup and win the tournament.

China has only been to the World Cup once, in 2002, when South Korea and Japan co-hosted the tournament, but it did not do as well as expected. That time, the Chinese team lost all three matches against Brazil, Türkiye and Costa Rica, failing to score a single goal and conceding nine.

At the 2026 World Cup, Thailand and China are in Group C of the second qualifying round of the Asian region, along with South Korea and Singapore.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/chu-tich-tap-can-binh-noi-doi-bong-trung-quoc-chi-may-man-thang-thai-lan-20231119122346660.htm