As we all know, in order to allow more countries to participate in the World Cup, FIFA has decided to increase the number of participating teams in the 2026 United States, Canada and Mexico World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, and the number of games has also increased from the original 64 to 104.
As a result, the number of places in Asia has nearly doubled from before, rising from 4.5 to 8.5.
National Football Team
For Chinese football, these new rules sound very good, and the probability of reaching the World Cup is several times higher than before.
But when we think about it carefully, we will definitely regain our despair.
Unless the Asian quota is increased to about 15, the national football team will still only become a stepping stone for the rise of other countries' football.
Asian qualifying format
If you want to clearly understand the difficulty of the national football team entering the World Cup, you must first understand the qualifying schedule.
In the first stage,
22 teams ranked 26-47 in Asia will play two rounds of home and away games. The winner of the total score will enter the second quarter of the qualifying round.
This stage of the national football team can be ignored for the time being, because this is the stage prepared for countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar. If the national football team really falls to this point one day, there will be no need to look forward to the World Cup.
The top 25 Asian teams in the second stage
and the 11 winning teams in the first stage were combined into the top 36, divided into 9 groups for home and away round-robin competition. The top two in each group will advance to the AFC Asian qualifiers.
This stage is closely related to every Asian team, but it will still include many weak teams. For the national football team, as long as they don't run into Japan and South Korea's Yiaosha (the national football team's current Asian ranking does not guarantee the first place, so there is a probability of running into a strong team at this stage), there is absolutely no problem in advancing.
In addition, if the national football team encounters victims such as Turkmenistan , the Philippines, Syria , Thailand, Vietnam, etc., the status of the first place in the group is likely to be unsafe. This was verified in the last qualifiers. In the top 40 matches, the national football team lost to Syria and drew with the Philippines, and in the end could only barely qualify as second in the group.
Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng
The third stage - AFC Asian Qualifiers
The 18 teams that stand out from the second stage will be divided into 3 groups (6 teams in each group) for a home-and-away round-robin competition.
The top two teams in each group will directly qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
This stage is the most painful period for the national football team, because there is no chance of luck or escape.
There are 6 teams in each group, which means that the national football team must choose three from the following teams as opponents: Japan, South Korea, Iran, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar , Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, and Oman.
No matter which three are chosen, the national football team will definitely have to wear a mask of pain, not to mention that there may be disruptors such as Vietnam, Thailand, and North Korea in the group that are not weak..
Chinese team cheers
The fourth stage - Asian play-offs
The third and fourth places in the three groups of the AFC Asian Qualifiers (6 teams in total) will be divided into two groups (3 teams in each group) for a single round-robin showdown. The first place in the two groups will directly advance to the 2026 World Cup, and the two second-place teams will decide the winner through a play-off. The winning team will represent Asia in the World Cup intercontinental play-offs.
If the National Football Team unfortunately fails to emerge from the third stage, then the fourth stage will be their last and best chance.
If the national football team really becomes the third or fourth place in the third stage group, they may encounter the following opponents in the fourth stage:
Vietnam, Bahrain , Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Oman, Iraq , etc.
Although these teams are not as strong as Japan, South Korea, Iran and Australia, they are definitely not something that the national football team can easily defeat. It is not that difficult to win the first place in the group from these teams.
The national football team must win
The national football team is in a serious situation
The national football team is currently ranked 11th in Asia. The possibility of winning against the top 10 teams is very slim. As for the fifteen teams behind it, the national football team cannot guarantee a stable victory. It can only be said that there is a win or loss for each other.
Until , Malaysia, , which is ranked 25th in Asia, the national football team has a 100% certainty. However, the 27th-ranked Kuwait and the 28th-ranked Indonesia are by no means weaklings. It is difficult for the national football team to guarantee a safe retreat.
Chinese football fans
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