The Sun's front-page headline—Ronaldo and TY had arrived at their national teams in succession to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers.
Toutiao: On October 7, the China national football team would host Saudi Arabia. Could they secure a third straight win in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers?
Xinhua News Agency, October 5, reporters Liang Xiaosheng and Chang Yun: Tang Ye had arrived at the team hotel and was expected to join the squad for a pitch inspection and warm-up on October 6.
Most recent news from Europe had been about players leaving their clubs.
Under normal circumstances, most spots in the World Cup finals would have been decided by October.
But this year was slightly different, because the Qatar World Cup would begin in November—in winter, since Qatar was too hot in the summer.
Fans could simply understand it as the 2022 World Cup having been delayed by half a year because of the weather, which naturally meant the qualifiers had also been pushed back by half a year.
It was now October 2021, with more than a full year remaining before the World Cup finals began.
Everything had only just begun!
[CCTV5]
"Hey, we've all said that the away match against the Japan national football team is China's top priority this year. We have to beat Japan."
"But actually, heh heh, I don't think that's quite an appropriate way to put it."
It was still Zhang Lu, demonstrating at the blackboard as CCTV's commentators analyzed the situation in Group B of the final qualifying round for the fans. Naturally, the focus was on China's chances of qualifying.
"China currently sits first in Group B, but in reality, we have the same number of points as Japan. We're only ahead by a few goals in goal difference. And judging from