As Asian teams perform well in the FIFA World Cup North America tournament, Chinese media claimed that 'the Chinese national team was in a group of death in the qualifiers,' leading to a flood of retorts from internet users. Taiwanese media ETtoday reported on the 16th.

The Chinese national team was eliminated in the final Asian qualifiers for this tournament, finishing 5th in their group with 2 wins, 1 draw, and 7 losses. Since the 2002 Japan-Korea tournament, they have failed to qualify for the World Cup finals for six consecutive tournaments.

Meanwhile, Asian teams have shown their strength in the main tournament so far, maintaining an unbeaten record with 2 wins and 4 draws in 6 matches as of the 16th. Chinese sports media Migusports (咪咕体育) mentioned in a video released on the 16th that China was in the same group as Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Indonesia in the final Asian qualifiers. Referring to the fact that Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia all did not lose to higher-ranked opponents in their first matches in the main tournament (1 win, 2 draws), it stated, 'It is clear that the Chinese national team was in a 'group of death' in the World Cup qualifiers.' Furthermore, other Chinese media similarly claimed that 'the Chinese national team was in a true 'group of death' during the Asian final qualifiers.'

However, in response to this, a flood of retorts came from Chinese internet users, with comments such as: 'It's as if they're saying they could have advanced if it wasn't a 'group of death',' 'Even if they were in another group, which team do they think they could have pushed aside to qualify for the main tournament?', 'Which group would save them from 'death'?', and 'Any group would be a 'group of death' for the Chinese national team, wouldn't it?'

Additionally, harsh comments such as: 'The Chinese national team has already completely lost face, what are you defending?', 'Don't make excuses for failure!', 'Don't blame weakness on luck. The result for China would be the same no matter which group they were in', and 'The Chinese national team has consistently shown stable performance. In the sense that they can't win' were also received. (Translation/Editing by Kitada)