Chapter 159: We're Out!
2:2, the winning streak finally stopped, and after 5 rounds, the Chinese team is still at the top of Group A, the following are the results of the first 5 rounds and the standings:
9.13 China 4:3 Iran Qatar 2:0 Kuwait
9.20 Kuwait 0:3 Saudi Arabia Iran 2:1 Qatar
9.26 Qatar 0:3 China Saudi Arabia 1:0 Iran
10.3 China 6:1 Saudi Arabia, Iran 2:0 Kuwait
10.10 Kuwait 0:4 China Qatar 2:2 Saudi Arabia
Standings:
China scored 19 goals with 4 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses, conceded 6 goals, 13 points and 13 goal difference
Iran won 2, drew 1 and lost 2, scored 9 goals, conceded 8 goals, 7 points and 1 goal difference
Saudi Arabia won 2, drew 1 and lost 1, scored 7 goals and conceded 8 goals, and 5 points -1 goal difference
Qatar 1 win, 1 draw, 3 losses, scored 5 goals, conceded 8 goals, 4 points, -3 goal difference
Kuwait 1 win, 0 draws, 4 losses, scored 1 goal, conceded 11 goals, 3 points, -10 goal difference
Judging from the current situation, as long as the Chinese team defeats Qatar at home in the next round, it will get the ticket to the 1998 World Cup in France in advance, and the other place in this group is likely to be produced between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Saudi Arabia, which is currently 1 game less, is 2 points behind Iran, but in the next round, Saudi Arabia should not have a problem facing Kuwait, the fish belly of this group, and it should not be a problem to score all 3 points, and the next thing is a life-and-death battle with Iran. On the other hand, after Iran was forced to draw by China at home, it had to meet Qatar and Saudi Arabia one after another, and if you were not careful, you had to say goodbye to this World Cup in advance. There are no surprises in Group B, and the top two teams are naturally Xiao Xiba and Xiao Baga.
The Chinese team is one step away from the World Cup, which should be regarded as the most direct impact on the national football team since Li Bourne's rebirth, the five big words in the TV - "We have qualified!" And the red floating on the screen may really meet Chinese fans 4 years in advance, and the sense of achievement and happiness of the teenager at this moment has exploded.
On October 24th, the Chinese team had a bye, and the domestic league was played again, and the Guangzhou Sun God team finally lost at home. After half a season of running-in, the domestic players can barely keep up with the three superstars, the three of them played the best form since coming to China, Klinsmann and Savicevic scored a goal each, Stoichkov scored twice, and the defender Huandao defeated the leader 4:3, and took away the valuable three points. It can't be said that the Guangzhou team played badly, it can only be said that the opponent played too well, and the Guangzhou fans after the game did not have excessive behavior, many fans said that the loss of this game was acceptable when they were interviewed by local media, and they believed that the light of the Sun God team would not be dimmed. Yo, unexpectedly, after Li Bourne emphasized the fan problem many times, I didn't expect my own fans to learn to watch the game rationally first.
The results of Group A of the top 10 match on the 24th were also a big surprise, with Saudi Arabia and Iran losing 0:1 to Kuwait and Qatar respectively. The match between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia was because Saudi Arabia was unable to break through the opponent's iron bucket formation, and was stolen by Kuwait in the 72nd minute of the second half.
As for the Iranian team, it was more miserable, the Qataris played dirty in this game, intentionally or unintentionally, and a group brawl broke out between the two sides in the 49th minute of the game. Al-Kuwari was not sent off, poor Daei was given a yellow card by the referee for going in to persuade him, and midfielder Esteli was also sent off with a red card, while full-back Naimi was sent off on the Qatari side. Interestingly, the camera captures Al. Kuwari bared his teeth and peeked through his fingers, after this game, he was directly terminated by the team when he played in the Iranian league, and finally Qatar's number one star Nnaji shook two Iranian defenders in the 86th minute of the game to score the winning goal.
As a result, the previously clear Group A situation was complicated again, with the battle for second place changing from Iran and Saudi Arabia to a four-team scuffle. Qatar and Iran after this round of 7 points, but the goal difference is two less to rank third, the first half of the defense let the sieve Kuwait actually reached 6 points, even more than the still 5 points of Saudi Arabia, but the goal difference is pitiful, after winning this game is still a big -9 hanging in the standings.
After the game on October 31, the Chinese team also enjoyed the dirty ball kick of the Qataris, and a good game was broken by the opponent's foul and countless team doctors' performances, and the team doctors had to show off their medical skills in 10 minutes at most. Especially the team doctor in Qatar, that's called magical, you see the player rolling on the ground, I feel like I'm about to die, the team doctor comes up and touches the leg. In the 84th minute of the game, the left corner kick, Wu Chengying sent a low flat ball towards the line of the big penalty area, Li Jinyu who received the front point missed a leak, followed by Fan Zhiyi, this is not over, Zhang Enhua in the middle position is a leak, and the last far point of Li Burn received the ball as a long-range shot. But it was a false shot, from the side of the defender on the very edge of Qatar passed a straight plug in, the middle of Su Maozhen used his body to block Qatar's central defender, but the opponent did not press the first time, Li Jinyu after the first leak from the penalty area laterally around the far point to receive Li Bern's through ball, in the case of the entire Qatar back line collective bewilderment, Da Yu easily scored from near the point. Relying on this goal, the Chinese men's football team locked the first place in Group A two rounds in advance, becoming the first team in Asia to enter the World Cup finals in France.
On the other side, the Saudi Arabian team, playing at home, took advantage of Iran's lack of two big players to defeat Iran 2:1 and jump to second place in the group by one point.
In the remaining two rounds, the Chinese team defeated Saudi Arabia and Kuwait with a score of 1:0 and 3:1 respectively, and remained unbeaten in the group stage with 7 wins and 1 draw. Iran once again ended their Group A match in the round of 10 with a 2-0 win over Kuwait. As of now, Group A is in the following format:
Standings:
China scored 24 goals with 7 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses, conceded 7 goals, 22 points and 17 goal difference
Iran scored 12 goals with 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, conceded 11 goals, 10 points and 1 goal difference
Saudi Arabia won 3, drew 1 and lost 3, scored 9 goals, conceded 11 goals, and scored 8 points and -2 goal difference
Qatar won 2, drew 1, lost 4, scored 7 goals, conceded 9 goals, and scored 7 points, with a goal difference of -2
Kuwait won 2, drew 0, lost 6, scored 3 goals, conceded 14 goals, 6 points, -11 goal difference
At present, China, Iran and Kuwait have taken the lead in ending their schedules, Kuwait has confirmed the fate of being eliminated, and the Iranian team must see the results of the final round of the life-and-death battle between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The long-awaited phrase "We're out!" was finally heard on the TV.