Chinese team worried about host Indonesia

China is worried about the strength of host Indonesia before the second leg - Photo: BOLA

After 8 matches, the Chinese team with 6 points is temporarily at the bottom of Group C. China has lost hope of directly qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, as it is 7 points behind the second-placed team, Australia.

However, they can still hope to finish in 3rd or 4th place to qualify for the play-off round. To realize this goal, the Chinese team must win both remaining matches against Indonesia (June 5) and Japan (June 10).

However, the press and experts in China expressed concern that coach Branko Ivankovic's team is currently weaker than the Indonesian team. Therefore, the goal of winning a ticket to the play-off round is very difficult. Sohu newspaper commented that the Chinese team is in a "below-dog" position compared to Indonesia and the gap between the two teams is getting wider.

Sohu believes that the Indonesian team has naturalized many quality players and most of them are pursuing their careers abroad, especially in Europe, such as Ole Romeny, Marselino Ferdinandan, Jay Idzes or Mees Hilgers...

When commenting on the Chinese team, Sohu was disappointed: "The Chinese team has naturalized many players, but only a few meet the requirements of coach Branko Ivankovic. In the previous two matches against Saudi Arabia and Australia, only two naturalized players, Jiang Guangtai and Serginho, were called up."

The football environments between the two countries are really too different, and without reasonable strategies, China will be left behind by Indonesia. In the first leg, the Chinese team won 2-1 against Indonesia in October 2024. However, in this rematch, the Indonesian team is much stronger. The Southeast Asian representative added many quality naturalized players and has a good chance of winning a ticket to the play-off round. Not to mention, the Indonesian team also has home field advantage.

Not only was the Chinese team at a disadvantage in terms of squad quality, they also received bad news when some key players were injured. Faced with such clear advantages, the Indonesian media was quite cautious when advising coach Patrick Kluivert and his team to concentrate fully and not underestimate their opponents if they wanted to achieve the best results.

NOSTALGIA

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-trung-quoc-lo-ngai-chu-nha-indonesia-2025052010424631.htm