An old rivalry will be reignited in the World Cup Qualifiers as Japan meets with China in Group B as both sides have work to do in order to get their World Cup qualification back on track with Saudi Arabia at the top.
In reality, it’s all but over for China and their World Cup hopes and they may have to wait another four years to see if they can make it to their second-ever finals after they qualified for the group stages back in 2002.
China PR National Team squad - AFC Asian Qualifiers【Road to Qatar】(1/27＠Saitama) #football https://t.co/2gE4ZNwKVW— jfa_en (@jfa_en) January 26, 2022
China PR National Team squad - AFC Asian Qualifiers【Road to Qatar】(1/27＠Saitama) #football https://t.co/2gE4ZNwKVW
Now, however, they can mathematically make it to Qatar 2022 after a string of poor results, but it’s unlikely.
China are fifth out of sixth in the standings of Group B and have only five points to boast in the table - this is seven behind Japan who sit second with 12 points.
It comes after they have won just one game and lost three and drawn twice. At the same time, they've let in 11 goals and scored only seven, and in truth, they and Vietnam have had very little chance progressing in this group for some time.
In fact, China's last win was a win over Vietnam as Zhang Yuning scored the opening goal before Wu Lei managed to bag twice.
It continues their decent form for their country, despite the overall poor displays. Worse yet, they failed to keep a clean sheet against a poor Vietnam side, who managed to bag twice in the game as the Chinese edged the game.
As for Japan, they can still finish top of the table with four games remaining in Group B, as they trail Saudi Arabia by four points and have won four games from the six they've played so for and it's been fairly comfortable for them. However, Australia are right behind them with only a point separating them.
It’s really tough to see how China get a result here as they have just been so poor all campaign long, and it seems near enough impossible to see how they make it to the World Cup at the end of the year.
Moreover, the two met last time out in their last game played and it went as predicted back then.
Japan ran out 1-0 winners as Yuya Osako scored for his nation in what was a controlled and simple game for the Japanese to deal with. It also kept their World Cup hopes strong and we fail to see how things are different here.
Forebet predicts a game of over 2.5 goals and a win for Japan here.