After experiencing a 7-0 away defeat to Japan in the first game of the World Preliminary Round of 18, the national football team finally came out of the shadows after returning to their home court. However, they still missed the first point of this top 18 match at the Dalian Barracuda Bay Football Stadium.
html On the evening of September 10, under the witness of 48,628 live fans, the Chinese football team finally lost to the Saudi team 1-2 after their opponent had an own goal and sent off one player with a red card, and missed the points. For the current Chinese team, this may be the most realistic and regrettable result.
Not afraid of Saudi Arabia at home, the national football team scored the first goal in the top 18
In this game, head coach Ivankovic made some adjustments to the starting lineup, and it is still a 4-4-2 parallel midfield system. Goalkeeper Wang Dalei , in The two starting full-backs Yang Zexiang and Liu Yang were injured in the Japanese war. Micro Motion Yi and Li Lei took their place in the starting lineup. The two central defenders were Jiang Guangtai partner Zhu Chenjie, Baihe Lamu replaced Xu Haoyang in the starting lineup, and the other three Jiang Shenglong , Li Yuanyi and Xie Weneng were the starters in the last game. The forward Fernando replaced Zhang Yuning and Wu Lei partnered as a double forward.
The national football team and Saudi Arabia have played against each other 19 times before. The Chinese team achieved 6 wins, 5 draws and 8 losses, scoring 22 goals and conceding 26 goals. The last time the national football team defeated Saudi Arabia was in the 2015 Asian Cup. At that time, the Chinese team defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 with Yu Hai's goal in the 81st minute. Before the goal, Wang Dalei saved the Saudi team's penalty kick. The national football team started that game. Now only Wang Dalei and Wu Lei are still in the national football team and serve as the starters for this game.
Although the national football team's head-to-head record between the two teams was slightly inferior, the national football team was not afraid of Saudi Arabia at home in the competition, winning all the first four games in 1994. The top 10 of the 1997 World Cup preliminaries was also in Dalian. With Zhang Enhua's header, the national football team defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0. In the 2013 Asian Cup qualifiers, the national football team also drew a goalless draw with Saudi Arabia 0-0 at home. The competition was maintained at home against Saudi Arabia in China. A record of 5 wins and 1 draw.
This psychological advantage also makes the national football team not afraid of opponents at the beginning. In the 14th minute of the game, Fernando took a corner kick. Jiang Shenglong's header resulted in an own goal from Rajami. The national football team broke the deadlock. This was also the first goal in the top 18 of the national football team!
Just 2 minutes later, Saudi player Mohammed Kano fell to the ground while dribbling the ball, and then made an additional move to kick Jiang Shenglong from the front. After var intervened, the referee saw the replay and gave a direct red card! The national football team took the numerical lead in the first 16 minutes of the game.
The referee team for this game is composed of Tajikistan referees. It is reported that due to the illness of the original referee Gulmuloji, the fourth official Kabirov temporarily changed the referee for this game. Gulmulo Ji Ze serves as the fourth official.
Ivan and Mancini have started a battle to defend their positions.
The current FIFA rankings of the two teams, Saudi Arabia's 56th place is much higher than the national football team's 87th place. According to the value evaluation data of the German transfer market website, the Chinese team's 23-man roster is worth a total of 9.65 million euros, and the Saudi Arabian team's 23-man roster is worth a total of 28 million euros. Among them, Firas Brykan is worth the most, with a net worth of 6 million euros. In terms of valuation of the starting lineup, the national football team is less than 1/3 of its opponents.
For the coaches of the two teams, Ivankovic and Mancini, this game is an out-and-out battle to defend their positions. Ivan led the team in 5 games with 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses, and the results were relatively dismal. In the first match of the Saudi Round of 18, Indonesia, a sixth-tier team composed of naturalized legions, only received a 1-1 draw. After the game, the Saudi media criticized Mancini.
Faced with a game that no one could afford to lose, Saudi Arabia did not give up even when it fell behind and had one less player to play. The team's strength was also better than that of the national football team. On the contrary, the Chinese team once again lost the ball defensively at a corner kick. In the 39th minute, Kadesh's header rewritten the score to 1-1.
In the first 12 minutes of the national football team's first game against Japan, the opponent also scored from a set kick. Before the end of the first half, the national football team's corner kick attack created a threat, and Wu Lei's header was slightly higher than the crossbar.
In the first half, the national football team had a ball possession rate of 32% to 68%, a pass success rate of only 60%, which was behind the opponent's 77%, and a slight advantage of 5 to 4 in shooting.
was inferior in skill and slow in substitutions, and finally encountered a reversal.
After halftime, Wang Shangyuan replaced Jiang Guangtai, who had some muscle strain in the first half, and Jiang Shenglong retreated to play as a central defender.
The national football team played one more player, but was still at a disadvantage on the court. Facing the fast pace of the Saudi players, they were somewhat uncomfortable and committed frequent fouls. However, the national football team is also working hard to find opportunities.
In the 54th minute, the national football team attacked from a corner kick. Wang Shangyuan received Wu Lei’s header and scored with a supplementary shot in front of the goal. However, he was in an offside position and the goal was ruled invalid.
Saudi Arabia also frequently uses counterattacks to threaten the national football goal. In the 62nd minute, Salim Dosari quickly counterattacked and hit the left rib of the national football team. His shot hit the crossbar and the Chinese team luckily escaped. Dosari then threatened the Chinese team's defense on the left many times.
In the 69th minute, Zhang Yuning came on as a substitute for Wu Lei. The team also took advantage of the opponent's reduced physical fitness and launched a wave of attacks. Unfortunately, Baihe Lamu's shot was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper.
coach Ivan's substitutions were somewhat incomprehensible. It was not until Xie Wenneng was physically exhausted and injured that another substitution adjustment was made.
This eventually led to a bad result. In the 89th minute, the Saudi team once again used a corner kick and Kadesh scored, leading the score 2-1.
In this game, the national football team more or less fulfilled its pre-match promise and showed a good spirit. However, inferior skills and hesitation in substitutions ultimately prevented the team from scoring points.
According to the schedule of the next top 18 of the World Cup preliminaries, the next game of the national football team will be against the Australian team away from home on October 10.
