On the evening of March 21, 2024, the Chinese men's football team played against Singapore on the road in the third round of the Group C group match of the second stage of the World Qualifying Tournament in Asia. The match was of great significance for the Chinese men's soccer team, not only was it the first match for the new head coach, Ivankovic, who led the team, but it was also the first official match for the national soccer team after the defeat at the 2023 Asian Cup.
At the beginning of the game, the Chinese men's soccer team showed a strong desire to attack. In the 9th minute, Xie Pengfei brought the ball on the side road, Wang Shangyuan received the ball after the diagonal pass, Wu Lei header broke the goal, for the Chinese men's soccer team to get a 1:0 lead. Wu Lei then shot a penalty inside the penalty area in the 30th minute, but unfortunately his penalty kick was punched out by the opposing goalkeeper. However, in the first half extra time, Wu Lei seized a chance to add to the lead and extended the score to 2:0.
In the second half, the Singaporean team strengthened their attack and quickly made substitutions to achieve results. In the 52nd minute, substitute Ramli made a sudden attack and the ball was refracted into the net, Singapore equalized a goal. Subsequently, in the 81st minute of the game, the Singaporean team in the National Football League penalty area continuous attack on goal, Zhang Linpeng and Jiang Guangtai successive clearance errors, the replacement of Malle shot through the goal, the Singaporean team managed to equalize the score to 2:2.
Although the Chinese men's soccer team performed well in the first half, leading by two goals, problems in defense and ball control in the second half prevented them from holding on to the win. In another match in the same group, Thailand drew 1:1 with South Korea, breaking the ice. China is now third in the group with four points from one win, one draw and one loss, while South Korea and Thailand are in the top two. According to the schedule, China will play Singapore again on March 26 at home in Tianjin, China.
