In two weeks, the World Preliminary Round of 36 in Asia will be restarted, the national football team back-to-back against Singapore, the same East Asian team Japan, will play back-to-back against North Korea, as long as the full 6 points, Japan can win the opening 4 consecutive wins, and hope to advance to the round of 18 two rounds in advance.
This World Preliminary Tournament is a tough battle for Asian teams, but for Japan, it seems to be more like going through the motions. Advancing to the World Cup finals for 6 consecutive years, coupled with the expansion of the next World Cup to 48 teams, the Asian quota has increased to 85, which greatly reduces the difficulty for Japan to qualify for the World Cup.
Professional players in Japan are dreaming of representing the national team at the World Cup, including former Chinese goalkeeper Zhang Aolin, who has become a Japanese citizen. 18-year-old Zhang Aolin, who plays for Gamba Osaka, has officially joined the Japanese nationality and become a local player according to the official news of the Japanese J-League today.
At the end of last year, Zhang Olin personally confirmed that he had become a Japanese citizen in a program, and expressed his dream of becoming a Japanese international and participating in the World Cup with the team. Born in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, he has previously played for Gamba Osaka Juniors before being promoted to the first team last season and becoming a highly anticipated goalkeeper.
This naturalization of Japanese nationality means that he voluntarily renounced his Chinese nationality, which is not without precedent. Gao Yuyang, the son of former international player Gao Sheng, gave up his Chinese nationality at the age of 18 and chose to become a Japanese citizen.
For Zhang Aolin, it is not easy to give up the opportunity to play for the national football team and choose to pursue the opportunity to play for the Japanese national team. But in China, most fans still support his decision, believing that Japan is the true pure land of Asian football and hoping that he can achieve his dream.
In addition to Zhang Aolin, the Japanese team also has a number of other players of foreign origin, whose addition has injected new vitality into the team and made fans look forward to the future of the team.
Whether it is the national football team or the Japanese team, this World Preliminary Tournament will be a fierce competition, let us wait and see and witness the wonderful moments of Asian football!