In April, Chinese President Xi Jinping checked out a business that makes humanoid robots. There he drifted an idea to repair the country's woeful guys's soccer group.

"Can we have robotics sign up with the group?" Xi was priced estimate as saying on the website of Zhiyuan Robotics.

It might be far too late. China will run out World Cup certifying if it stops working to beat Indonesia on Thursday. Even a success may just postpone the departure.

What's the problem? China has 1.4 billion people, the globe's second biggest economy and won 40 Olympic gold medals last year in Paris to connect the United States. Why can't it find 11 elite men's soccer gamers?

The government touches every aspect of life in China. That top-down control has actually assisted China become the biggest maker of everything from electronics to shoes to steel.

It has actually attempted to run soccer, however that stiff governance hasn't worked.

"What soccer reflects is the social and political problems of China," Zhang Feng, a Chinese reporter and analyst, tells The Associated Press. "It ´ s not a complimentary society. It does not have the team-level trust that permits players to pass the ball to each other without fretting."

Zhang argues that politics has actually stalled soccer's growth. And there's added pressure considering that Xi's a huge fan and has actually assured to resuscitate the game in the house. Soccer is a world language with its "own grammar," says Zhang, and China doesn't speak it.

"In China, the more focus the leader places on soccer, the more worried the society gets, the more power the bureaucrats get, and the more corrupt they end up being," Zhang includes.

After China defeated Thailand 2-1 in 2023, Xi joked with Srettha Thavisin, the Thai prime minister at the time. "I feel luck was a huge part of it," Xi said.

The agreement is clear. China has too few quality players at the yard roots, excessive political interference from the Communist Party, and there's excessive corruption in the regional game.

Wang Xiaolei, another prominent Chinese commentator, suggests that soccer clashes with China's top-down governance and the emphasis on rote knowing.

"What are we finest at? Dogma," Wang composed in a blog last year. "But football can not be dogmatic. What are we worst at? Inspiring ingenuity, and cultivating passion."

The most recent chapter in China's abysmal men's soccer history was a 7-0 loss in 2015 to geopolitical competing Japan.

"The fact that this defeat can occur and individuals aren ´ t that shocked - despite the historical bitterness - simply illustrates the issues dealing with football in China," states Cameron Wilson, a Scot who has actually operated in China for twenty years and written extensively about the game there.

China has actually received only one men's World Cup. That was 2002 when it went scoreless and lost all three matches. Soccer's governing body FIFA positions China at No. 94 in its rankings - behind war-torn Syria and ahead of No. 95 Benin.

For viewpoint: Iceland is the smallest nation to reach the World Cup. Its newest population estimate is nearly 400,000.

The website Soccerway tracks worldwide football and does not reveal a single Chinese gamer in a top European league. The national group's best player is forward Wu Lei, who played for 3 seasons in Spain's La Liga for Espanyol. The club's majority owner in Chinese.

The 2026 World Cup will have a field of 48 teams, a big increase on the 32 in 2022, yet China still might not make it.

China will be gotten rid of from qualification if it loses to Indonesia. Even if it wins, China must likewise beat Bahrain on June 10 to have any hope of advancing to Asia's next qualifying stage.

Englishman Rowan Simons has invested almost 40 years in China and got popularity doing television commentary in Chinese on English Premier League matches. He also composed the 2008 book "Bamboo Goalposts."

China is taking advantage of reforms over the last years that put soccer in schools. But Simons argues that soccer culture grows from volunteers, civil society and club organizations, none of which can grow in China because they are possible oppositions to the guideline of the Communist Party.

"In China at the age of 12 or 13, when kids go to middle school, it ´ s referred to as the cliff," he states. "Parents may enable their kids to play sports when they ´ re more youthful, but as soon as it pertains to middle school the scholastic pressure is on - things like sport pass the wayside."

To be fair, the Chinese women's team has actually done much better than the men. China ended up runner-up in the 1999 Women's World Cup however has actually faded as European teams have risen with built-in knowledge from the guys's game. Spain won the 2023 Women's World Cup. China was knocked out early, battered 6-1 by England in group play.

China has actually been effective targeting Olympic sports, a few of which are relatively obscure and depend on recurring training more than creativity. Olympic team sports like soccer offer only one medal. So, like numerous nations, China concentrates on sports with several medals. In China's case it's diving, table tennis and weightlifting.

"For youths, there's a single value - testing well," says Zhang, the analyst and reporter. "China would be OK if playing soccer were only about bouncing the ball 1,000 times."

Li Tie, the nationwide team coach for about 2 years starting in January 2020, was last year sentenced to twenty years in jail for bribery and match fixing. Other leading administrators have likewise been accused of corruption.

The graft also reached the domestic Super League. Clubs invested millions - perhaps billions - on foreign talents backed by many state-owned businesses and, before the collapse of the housing boom, real-estate developers.

The poster kid was Guangzhou Evergrande. The eight-time Super League champions, as soon as coached by Italian Marcello Lippi, was expelled from the league and dissolved previously this year, not able to pay off its financial obligations.

Zhang says business owners purchased professional soccer teams as a "political homage" and pointed out Hui Ka-yan. The embattled genuine estate designer funded the Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club and used soccer to win favor from political leaders.

Residential or commercial property giant Evergrande has actually collected debts reported at $300 billion, reflective of China ´ s battered residential or commercial property segment and the general health of the economy.

"China ´ s failure at the global level and corruption throughout the video game, these are all aspects that lead moms and dads away from letting their kids get involved," says Simons, who established a youth soccer club called China Club Football FC.

"Parents look at what ´ s going on and question if they desire their kids to be included. It ´ s unfortunate and discouraging."

Wade reported from Tokyo and Tang from Washington.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer