Japan-England, China-Spain: World Cup Friendly Match Possibilities?

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There was a local report in Spain that the Chinese national soccer team, which failed to advance to the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup finals, may play an international international match against Spain, which ranks first in the FIFA rankings and is a strong candidate to win the World Cup.

Spanish media Marca said on the 11th (Korean time), “The Spanish national soccer team is scheduled to be convened after the UEFA Champions League final at the end of May and then play a friendly match against a low-level team in Riazor (A Coruña, Spain) on June 4.” After the match, they will move to Puebla, Mexico and have a final friendly match against Chile at Estadio Cuauhtemoc on the 8th to prepare for the World Cup. It will be the last rehearsal before the World Cup in North and Central America. “It is,” he said.

The ‘low-level’ opponent mentioned as the opponent for the Spanish national team’s World Cup appearance in their country is China. The media added, “We are discussing with the Chinese Football Association about the opponent for the friendly match on June 4.” China’s FIFA ranking is 93rd, a whopping 92 places lower than Spain.

Spain is in Group H of the North and Central America World Cup finals and will clash with Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in turn. Although the style is different, the game against China has the meaning of preparing for the game against Saudi Arabia, which is also a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). There is also an aspect of adjusting the players’ condition through actual evaluation matches against teams with less pressure. This is the reason why teams in the bottom tier were searched for evaluation matches just before the World Cup.

If the international match between China and Spain takes place, it will be the third time in history and 14 years since 2012. Spain leads the all-time record with 2 wins out of 2 games. In their first meeting in Salamanca, Spain in 2005, Spain won 3-0, and in a friendly match held in Seville in 2012, Spain also won 1-0.

Of course, it must be taken into account that Spain selected a ‘low-level’ team and chose China as an opponent for the friendly match, but it is still enviable for Korea to play a friendly match against a world-class team. Moreover, not only China but also Japan has the opportunity to compete against another World Cup champion by traveling to Wembley against England, ranked 4th in the FIFA rankings, during the international match period in March.

On the other hand, Korea (22nd in FIFA rankings), led by coach Hong Myung-bo, is going on a trip to Europe in March, but had a hard time finding opponents for the warm-up matches because the opponents for the warm-up matches against powerful European teams were confirmed early or were traveling to other continents. In the end, after playing a ‘neutral evaluation match’ in Europe against Cote d’Ivoire (37th) during the international match period in March, they will go on an away trip to Austria (24th). Both teams have lower FIFA rankings than Korea. Furthermore, the opponent for the warm-up match in May and June, right before the World Cup, as well as whether one or two warm-up games before the World Cup will be played, has not been decided.

Reporter Kim Myeong-seok elcrack@mtstarnews.com