Defying All Odds, Road to the World Cup 2014: The 2011 National Team Thread.

I guess looking at the teams history China certainly didn't get the worst group, however Iraq are certainly the team to watch out for.

 

Iraq again !!! Its unbelievable how many games in the past years ! For every major tournament we find the iraqi team on the middle of the road

 

And in the past china made 1 victory at the very last second of a never ending injury time, and got the hard time to make something happen on the 2nd leg of the confrontation witn s'pore

 

China has a very nice draw. No reason they shouldn't move on to the fourth round.

 

We got a good draw, there´s no excuses if we don´t advance from this group, with or without the refs help.

 

China has a pretty easy group. I'd say Group B with Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, and UAE looks like the only other group that could be easier. Does anybody know where the Chinese home games will be played? Nanjing has a nice shiny stadium just waiting to host some WC qualifiers

 

Pretty good draw for China. No complaints.

 

No complaints and no excuses for China this time around with regards to the draw. If we can't deal with Iraq at this point in time, then we have no chance in hell against a top asian team like Japan or Korea Republic now.

 

中国与新加坡真有缘，2012亚足 u16 与 u19 锦标赛的外围赛都同组， 现在连世杯第三轮也碰头。如果买香港六合彩有这么准就发财了。:d

 

The 3 teams from the respective pots, which I said is to be avoided have ended up in Group E with Iran. I would say this is the group of death with Iran, Qatar and Bahrain fighting for the 2 top spots. Indonesia will play the spoiler role.

But it seems I am the lone voice in disagreement that we have an easy group.

Iraq has not been impressive since 2007 after winning the Asian Cup. But it has great fighting spiritit and has always been a difficult opponent for China.

Jordan has been improving since 2004 and at this year's Asian Cup it gave Japan a hard time. In my opinion it is a tougher opponent than Iraq. So really have to watch out.

Singapore plays the spoiler role here. First I have to correct greenlion's statistics. In 1980 Singapore beat China 1 - 0 in the semi-final of the Olympic qualifier. In those days the national, not the U 23, team played in the Olympics. I am saying this as a matter of fact and not as a matter of pride.

China also had a bad record playing in Singapore. I was witness to three heart breaking defeats at our National stadium.

1982 WC qualifier: 1 - 2 to New Zealand in the play-off for second of 2 spots after both teams tied on points, goal difference and goals scored.

1984 Asian Cup final: 0 - 2 to Saudi Arabia.

1990 WC last round qualifiers: 0 - 2 to Qatar.

My greatest fear is that China drops points in Singapore while the other 2 teams pick up full points.