China head to head against Thailand in World Cup qualifier

Despite the aggressive style of a tough opponent, the Chinese men's national team has reiterated its focus on playing its own attacking soccer to the best to clinch a critical World Cup qualifier win against Thailand.

With so much at stake for both teams' qualifying prospects, Team China and its Group C opponent Thailand are both going for three points from their encounter in a 2026 World Cup Asian Zone qualifier on Thursday, held in Shenyang, Liaoning province, to compete for a top-two finish in the group to advance into the final qualification stage and keep their World Cup dreams alive.

After over a week's training in Shenyang, Team China has completed a comprehensive preparation for the match and is well-prepared to secure a win on home soil, said head coach Branko Ivankovic.

"We both need three points to stay in contention for entry into the final qualifying round. We did all we could during the pre-match training camp and we are ready to accomplish our only goal that is to win," the Croatian manager, who took over Team China in February, said through an interpreter at the pre-match news conference on Wednesday.

Ivankovic, an advocate of aggressive playing style, stressed that Team China has to stick to its own tactic and strategy, despite the surging Thai opponent, to pull off the challenge.

"In soccer, you always need to score more goals than your opponents do to win games. We called up six forwards to the training camp. We have to play great offense to dictate the play," said Ivankovic, who led China to rout bottom-placed group rival Singapore 4-1 i the team's last home match in Tianjin in March.

"We will try to make the best out of what we have and try to play what we are good at to the best. Defensively, we need our players to rotate quickly and cover each other. I believe our players could execute our tactics well on the pitch."

With its leading scorer Wu Lei and starting defensive midfielder Li Yuanyi both suspended due to aggregated yellow and red cards, Team China has to dig harder from the rest of the roster, while expecting more from its young striker Wei Shihao and the naturalized combo of Fei Nanduo and Alan, who were both born in Brazil, to maintain its attacking threat up front.

In its last qualifier match against Thailand, it was Wu's 29th-minute equalizer that helped China turn the tide before Wang Shangyuan's second-half header secured the Team Dragon a tough 2-1 away win in Bangkok in November.

Sitting at second place in Group C, Team China will need three points from the Thursday match to secure a runner-up finish to advance into the continental final round together with group leader South Korea. Should Thailand walk away with a draw, or even a win, Team China will face a daunting task to beat South Korea on the road in its last group match on June 11 to stay ahead of Thailand after the completion of the group stage.

Now coached by Japanese tactician Masatada Ishii, who replaced Mano Polking after the loss to China, the Thai team is expected to rely on its aggressive duo of Chanathip Songkrasin and Teerasil Dangda to play havoc with China's defense.

"We have to give everything we have to try to get all six points from the last two games," Ishii said of his expectation for the match against China and its final group fixture against Singapore next week.

"We will try to find a way to break the defense (of China) and score goals to win the match," he said.

Dangda, who will celebrate his 36th birthday on the match day, hopes to help the team secure a win over China as a perfect birthday gift for himself.

"It doesn't matter if I score or not, just to help the team win the match will be happy enough for a birthday," said Dangda, Thailand's active leading scorer who has netted 58 international goals for the "War Elephants".

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn