Following China’s defeat to South Korea, head coach Jankovic promises to move on.
Nov. 21, SHENZHEN, China (Xinhua) — Following China’s 3-0 home loss to South Korea in the second stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Zone qualifying tournament here on Tuesday, head coach Aleksandar Jankovic promised to keep his team moving forward.
“We received a warm reception from the Shenzhen supporters, and I apologize for not being able to give them three points tonight. The South Korean team performed admirably, punishing us for even the smallest of errors. “Congratulations to them, and let’s see each other later [in the next match],” Jankovic said at the press conference following the game.
Although a 3-0 loss is never easy to take, we will undoubtedly learn from the encounter and carry on. We played some combination tonight, which will be very helpful for us going forward, particularly when it comes to maintaining possession under duress,” Jankovic said.
Nine groups of 36 teams are playing a home-and-away round-robin format in the second stage of the Asian qualifying tournament. Each group’s top two players move on to the third round.
China overcame Thailand 2-1 in Bangkok and South Korea thrashed Singapore 5-0 at home in the opening Group C matches last Thursday.
It was acknowledged by Jankovic that he could take the three points after two games. “We have a very specific goal in mind: to get into the World Cup. We won the first game, which was crucial against Thailand. We are now headed in the right direction with three points.”
“We need to address certain issues going forward,” stated Jankovic, whose team will play Singapore twice in March of next year. “We will prepare to win both matches and get six points.”
The significance of the upcoming Qatar AFC Asian Cup in January 2024 was also underlined by the Serbian coach. “We’ll start concentrating on the Asian Cup tomorrow morning. We’ll be completely prepared when our first game begins.”
Two straight victories in the World Cup qualifiers, according to South Korea’s head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, will undoubtedly increase the team’s confidence heading into the Asian Cup. “We want to hit two goals. “We have two goals: winning the Asian Cup and making it to the World Cup,” he stated.
