Australia is set to face China in the next round of World Cup qualifying but since it has been a while since we faced China, we thought we’d take a look to see what the Socceroos were up against.
The Squad
China is a rarity in International Football, in that all their players play in their domestic league, unfortunately in this case, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. Although the Chinese Super League is known to have some quality many teams are spearheaded by foreign players. The lack of internationally experienced Chinese players is largely a phenomenon of their players not having attracted enough interest to move abroad. The current Chinese squad is largely inexperienced at International level with their goal keeper Yan Junling the most capped player set to possibly face Australia.
The form
China have not had the strongest form coming into the game against Australia having registered only one win this year against Asian football minnows Singapore. A 7-0 loss against Japan shows their defence can be extremely shaky, however this was followed up by a far more respectable 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia, which very much could have seen China pinch a point against the Asian giants.
China have a lot less to lose than Australia in this upcoming match, with the pressure on the Socceroos to steer their qualification campaign back on track.
China have a point to prove after their embarassing Japan loss, however they are capable of better performances as they showed against Saudi Arabia. If Socceroos again put out a lacklustre attacking display performance as they did against Bahrain, China may leave Adelaide with a point as well as some nice wine.
The Beautiful Game 