China
6th in FIFA World Cup Qualifying - AFC2023 Fixtures
Arif Aiman would have produced yet another star turn in the ACL Elite -- if not for the heroics of Wang Dalei.
China will be looking to show how far they've come from the last time they met Japan and suffered a 7-0 humbling.
Shanghai Port have been crowned Chinese Super League champions, but the competition is a far cry from the big-spending behemoth it was a decade ago.
New coach Tony Popovic has steered the Socceroos to a 3-1 victory against China to revitalise hopes of qualifying for the World Cup.
Nashville SC's Patrick Yazbek has been called up to replace Massimo Luongo after the Ipswich Town star was forced to withdraw from Australia's World Cup qualifiers due to an ankle injury.
Chinese football looked to have hit an all-time low but a glimmer of hope was offered in Tuesday's ACL Elite action.
The funeral of former England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson was held on Friday in the town of Torsby where he grew up before embarking on an illustrious career.
From the Japanese juggernaut to numerical deficits not mattering, here's what we learnt from the third round of Asian qualifiers.
China's Football Association has banned 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption in the latest effort to weed out graft in the country's notoriously underperforming team sport.
Five teams already look in a precarious position just one game into the third round of Asian World Cup qualifiers.
WCQ - AFC Table
# | TEAM | GP | GD | PTS |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Japan | 6 | +20 | 16 |
2 | Australia | 6 | +1 | 7 |
3 | Indonesia | 6 | -3 | 6 |
4 | Saudi Arabia | 6 | -3 | 6 |
5 | Bahrain | 6 | -5 | 6 |
6 | China | 6 | -10 | 6 |
Team Leaders
Top Scorers
# | Player | Goals | M | A |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wu Lei | 5 | 7 | 1 | |
Zhang Yuning | 3 | 11 | 2 | |
Wang Shangyuan | 1 | 12 | 1 |
Top Assists
# | Player | Assists | M | G |
---|---|---|---|---|
Zhang Yuning | 2 | 11 | 3 | |
Wei Shihao | 2 | 9 | 1 | |
Wang Shangyuan | 1 | 12 | 1 |