Counting on a final flourish

Team China bidding to upset the odds as concluding phase of Asian World Cup qualifying kicks off

Despite being outranked in a tough group, the Chinese national team is refusing to give up on its dream of advancing to next year's FIFA World Cup.

With the final phase of Asian qualification kicking off next week, Team China is up against continental powers Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia in Group B, which also features minnows Oman and Vietnam.

Matches will take place in a home-and-away format, with two direct spots up for grabs for the 2022 finals in Qatar.

Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia all reached the 2018 World Cup in Russia, with the task of knocking two of them out of contention for Qatar 2022 appearing to be a tall order for Team China, who is outranked by the trio and possesses inferior head-to-head records against them.

However, head coach Li Tie points to his players' impressive form in the domestic league as reason to believe an upset is possible.

"You might seem much stronger than us, but that doesn't mean we don't stand a chance. This is how the game of soccer is played," Li said during a media conference on Sunday in Shanghai.

"One thing is for sure－we have to go all out with a mentality of going to war should we expect to produce any surprises in the qualifying tournament."

The third-place finishers in both groups will square off against each other for a spot in an intercontinental playoff, with the winner of that game earning a ticket to Qatar 2022.