2-1! China is in danger of qualifying, in the January Saudi final, pray to the AFC to help draw a good sign

The 7th U23 Asian Cup qualifiers have ended recently, and domestic fans continue to pay attention to the subsequent progress of the event, especially the upcoming group draws and final circle arrangements. According to the AFC's plan, the group draw ceremony will be held on October 2 this year, and the final stage competition will be held in Saudi Arabia from January 7 to 25 next year. The event is divided into 4 groups, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarterfinals, and the last two were eliminated.

There are 16 participating teams in this U23 Asian Cup final circle, including host Saudi Arabia, 11 top teams, Jordan, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Iraq, Qatar, Iran, South Korea, Syria, and the second place in the 4 best-achieving groups, China, Uzbekistan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

The Chinese U23 team's qualifying process in the qualifying stage is shocking. In the last round against Australia, the team finally drew 0-0 with their opponents when they tied and ranked second in the group with 7 points and 11 goals. They successfully qualified for the main game and avoided the risk of being eliminated due to the "tacity of the ball" of other teams. If you lose in the last round, the Chinese team's points will be only 6 points, and the goal difference will be greatly reduced, and it is likely that it will not be able to dominate the second-place comparison in the group.

According to the competition classification, the first team is Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Japan, and Iraq; the second team includes South Korea, Vietnam, Australia, and Qatar; the third team is Thailand, Jordan, the UAE, and Iran; the fourth team includes China, Syria, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon.

Looking back on history, the Chinese U23 team participated in the finals of the event five times, with a total score of 2 wins and 13 losses, and has not yet achieved group qualifying, with the best result being 9th in the previous event. The team's only two wins came from a 2-1 victory over Oman in 2018 and a 2-1 victory over the UAE in 2024.

Although the historical record is not outstanding, the team has shown an upward trend in recent years. In this qualifier, the Chinese team not only defeated its relatively weak opponents, but also scored Australia in a clean sheet, showing certain competitiveness. Whether in the end, the team will continue to actively respond to the teams such as Uzbekistan, Japan, South Korea or Saudi Arabia.

If you want to achieve a historic breakthrough and qualify for the first time in the group, the Chinese team not only needs to take advantage of the lottery situation to a certain extent in addition to their own performance. Ideally, the same group as Iraq, Vietnam, Thailand may increase the probability of promotion. Iraq unexpectedly drew against Cambodia in the qualifiers. Vietnam's youth training strength has not improved significantly in recent years, and Thailand is not a traditional strong team. These opponents may be more conducive to the Chinese team's efforts to win points.

It is worth mentioning that West Asian teams such as Iran, Jordan, and the UAE have certain geographical advantages. In addition, the game is held in Saudi Arabia, objective conditions may also affect the direction of the game. The team's final performance still needs to be further evaluated after the group is announced.