The China - Australia match takes place at 22:00 (Vietnam time) on November 16. In the first leg, the team from the land of the Kangaroos won 3-0. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Li Tie's team was forced to borrow Sharjah Stadium in the UAE as their home stadium, instead of playing in To Chau as previously planned.
On the rankings, the Chinese team has 4 points, ranked 5/6 in Group B, 5 points behind the Japanese 3rd place team. Li Tie's team has very little chance to get a place in the Top 3 if they play with the current erratic form. Australia is currently in 2nd place with 10 points. Graham Arnold's team is determined to win, after a streak of 2 consecutive draws and losses.
Regarding their previous head-to-head record, the two teams are balanced. Each team has won 2 of their last 5 meetings. In the first leg, the Socceroos beat China 3-0 with goals from Awer Mab Mabil, Martin Boyle and Mitchell Duke. All three players could play in the match on the evening of November 16.
In terms of form, the home team China has only won 1 of their last 5 matches, by defeating the Vietnamese team 3-2. The rest, Wu Lei and her teammates lost 3 and drew 1. Meanwhile, the team from the land of the Mousetraps won 3, drew 1 and lost 1 (against the Japanese team) in the last 5 matches.
In terms of force, the home team has all the most outstanding faces. Coach Li Tie is likely to make the most of naturalized players, after Luo Guofu and Alan played quite well, in the Oman 1-1 draw. Meanwhile, Australia does not have the strongest squad. Midfielder Tom Rogic has been absent since the start of the training session, while Harry Souttar suffered a knee ligament tear in the 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia on November 11.
This is the last match of the two teams in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in 2021. In all aspects, Australia is rated higher. The absence of 2 key players due to injury does not greatly affect the strength of Graham Arnold and his team. Meanwhile, the Chinese team will have to make a great effort to have a chance to gain points against their opponent.
Expected lineup:
China (4-4-2): Yan Junling; Wang Shenchao, Tyias Browning, Zhu Chenjie, Zhang Linpeng; Aloisio, Wu Xi, Xu Xin, Lei Wu; Elkeson, Zhang Yuning.
Australia (4-2-3: Mat Ryan; Aziz Behich; Milos Degenek, Trent Sainsbury, Rhyan Grant; James Jeggo, Jackson Irvine; Matthew Leckie, Aaron Mooy, Awer Mabil; Martin Boyle.
Prediction: China 0-2 Australia
