China can still pass the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup without scoring

On the evening of January 22, the Chinese team suffered a 0-1 defeat to the host team Qatar. In the same match, the Tajikistan team defeated Lebanon 2-1, thereby winning second place in Group A and a ticket to the next round.

The Chinese team dropped to 3rd place in the group with 2 points and a goal difference of -1. Notably, this team only conceded 1 goal throughout the group stage but did not score a single goal. However, the Chinese team can still think about a ticket to the next round, although the hope is not much.

The Chinese team can still advance to the 2023 Asian Cup.

In Group F, Oman will face Kyrgyzstan. In Group B, Syria will face India. Group C will see an important clash between Palestine and Hong Kong (China). In theory, if two of the three teams in these groups lose or draw with an "unfavorable" score, China will still advance despite not scoring a single goal in the group stage.

However, this is unlikely to happen because Syria is much stronger than India and Palestine is expected to win against Hong Kong (China). The most balanced match is between Oman and Kyrgyzstan.

Group A of the Chinese team is not a difficult group. However, the lack of luck of the attacking players, especially Wu Lei, made the Chinese team pay a heavy price. In the match against Lebanon alone, Wu Lei missed 2 situations facing the opponent's goalkeeper. He was heavily criticized by the press in his hometown.

The results of the Chinese team bring much hope to the representatives of Southeast Asia. If only one of the three third-placed teams in groups F, B, C does not win, the Indonesian team will automatically qualify for the next round. The fate of the Thai team is similar to Indonesia.

Ranking of third-placed teams in Asian Cup 2023

XH	Board	Team	Number of matches	BT-BB	Difference	Point
1	B	Bahrain	2	2-3	-1	3
2	A	Indonesia	2	2-3	-1	3
3	F	China	3	0-1	-1	2
4	D	Oman	2	1-2	-1	1
5	E	Syria	2	0-1	-1	1
6	C	Palestine	2	2-5	-3	1