On the evening of January 13th, Beijing time, at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, the Chinese men’s football team officially started their 13th Asian Cup journey. Facing their first opponent in the group stage, the new Asian Cup team Tajikistan, the Chinese team was passive and eventually tied with their opponents 0:0.
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Since joining the AFC in 1974, the Chinese team has participated in all 12 previous Asian Cups, reaching the semi-finals four times, reaching the finals twice, and winning runner-up twice and third place twice. In the last two Asian Cups, the Chinese team successfully qualified from the group and entered the quarterfinals. Before the game, Wu Lei, the head coach of the national football team, expressed the hope that this time, the national football team can go further.
Compared with the Chinese team, the Tajikistan team appeared in the Asian Cup finals for the first time. The average age of the team is less than 25 years old, and the world ranking is 106, 27 places lower than the Chinese team. Although they are at a disadvantage on paper, Tajikistan team coach Shegelt said that the team will do its best to perform and give the Chinese team enough respect.
Before the Chinese team's match, another match in Group A was held on the 12th. In the opening match of this Asian Cup, the host Qatar team defeated the Lebanese team 3:0. Considering the limited strength of the Lebanese team, for the Chinese team, this game with the Tajikistan team will determine to a certain extent whether they can advance smoothly. Jankovic sent out the strongest lineup except Wu Xi and Wei Shihao, who were injured. Wu Lei and Tan Long partnered to form a double offensive arrow.
After experiencing the opening stalemate, the Tajikistan team gradually took advantage of the field. In the first half, the team had a total of 12 shots, while the Chinese team only had 4 shots. If it weren't for Yan Junling's many rescues and the poor shooting skills of the Tajikistan team, the Chinese team might have conceded the goal. The only chance the Chinese team had was in the 36th minute. Wang Qiuming shot a powerful shot in the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by the opponent's player.
After the start of the second half, the Tajikistan team continued to besiege the Chinese team and made three consecutive shots, but failed to score a goal. In the second half of the second half, after players such as Xu Xin and Zhang Yuning came on as substitutes, the Chinese team's situation on the field eased. In the 80th minute, the Chinese team scored from a corner kick, but after Var intervened, it was determined that the ball was offside and the first goal was invalid. After that, neither side could change the score, and the game ended in a 0:0 draw.
After this game, after the first round of Group A, Qatar ranked first with 3 points, China and Tajikistan shared 1 point, and Lebanon ranked bottom with 0 points. At 19:30 on January 17th, Beijing time, the Chinese team will face its second opponent in the group stage, the Lebanese team.
[Source: Jimu News (Reporter Xu Ping) Source: Xinhua News Agency]
