The unlikely series of events that could see China’s soccer team pull off a World Cup qualification miracle (with a possible final showdown against the USA)
Narrow win over Uzbekistan keeps faint, faint hopes alive – but the road to Russia is still far from smooth
That looked impossible after they opened their campaign with one point from their first four games, including a humiliating home defeat by war-torn Syria.
Italian World Cup winner Marcello Lippi took over at that point and has steadied the ship, to the point where his team could – at least in theory – still sneak a place in the World Cup.
“I always tell my players. When there is still a theoretical chance, we have no reason to give up. We should make every efforts to achieve it. Now, it is the same attitude for us to play in the last match [away against Qatar],” Xinhua quoted Lippi as saying after the match.
With one game to go in group A, here’s China’s (highly unlikely) road to Russia:
Step 1: Beat Qatar in Doha
China must first beat the worst team in the group to have any chance at all. They only drew 0-0 in China, and lost 1-0 in Doha in the previous round of qualifying, when the teams were also in the same group, so it would be no surprise if hopes are extinguished here.
