On August 12th, Yahoo Sports published an article about Wu Lei, the main striker for the Chinese national team, reminding the Japanese national team to be wary of this prolific forward in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in September.
Yahoo Sports wrote: “China has less than a month to go before the third stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers begins. China and Japan are in Group C, with Japan facing China in the first round on September 5th, and it will be at Saitama 2002 Stadium. Japan’s goal is obviously to take all three points.”
“China’s ace player is not the increasing number of naturalized players in recent years, but Wu Lei. The 32-year-old Wu Lei has appeared in 99 matches for the national team, scoring 37 goals. If all goes well, the match against Japan will be his 100th appearance. Wu Lei played 72 La Liga matches for Espanyol during his career and has been in top form since returning to Shanghai SIPG in 2022. In the 2024 Chinese Super League season, he scored 28 goals and provided 12 assists in 23 matches. Although the levels are different, his goals and assists are comparable to Messi in his prime. In his last 12 games, he has contributed 12 goals and 7 assists.”
“He is almost certain to break his own career goalscoring record (27 goals) and break the Chinese Super League goalscoring record held by Zahavi (29 goals). In the previous round of Asian qualifiers, Wu Lei didn’t pose much threat to Japan, neither scoring as one of the two strikers nor creating danger on the right flank, resulting in two consecutive wins for Japan. But in the third stage, he is definitely a very dangerous attacker to watch out for. China’s naturalized players also need to be wary, but hopefully Japan’s defenders can stay composed and deal with Wu Lei.”
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