In April, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited a business that makes humanoid robotics. There he drifted a concept to fix the country's woeful males's soccer team.

"Can we have robots sign up with the group?" Xi was quoted as stating on the website of Zhiyuan Robotics.

It may be far too late. China will be out of World Cup qualifying if it stops working to beat Indonesia on Thursday. Even a triumph may just postpone the departure.

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

The government touches every element of life in China. That top-down control has helped China become the largest manufacturer of everything from electronic devices to shoes to steel.

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

"What soccer shows 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 doesn't 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 since Xi's a huge fan and has actually assured to resuscitate the video game in the house. Soccer is a world language with its "own grammar," says Zhang, and China does not speak it.

"In China, the more emphasis the leader places on soccer, the more anxious the society gets, the more power the bureaucrats get, and the more corrupt they become," Zhang adds.

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

The agreement is clear. China has too few quality players at the grass roots, too much political disturbance from the Communist Party, and there's too much corruption in the local game.

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

"What are we finest at? Dogma," Wang wrote in a blog site in 2015. "But football can not be dogmatic. What are we worst at? Inspiring ingenuity, and cultivating enthusiasm."

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

"The truth that this defeat can take place and individuals aren ´ t that shocked - despite the historic displeasure - just highlights the problems dealing with football in China," says Cameron Wilson, a Scot who has operated in China for 20 years and written extensively about the game there.

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

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

The website Soccerway tracks international football and doesn't reveal a single Chinese player in a leading European league. The national group's best gamer is forward Wu Lei, who played for 3 in Spain's La Liga for Espanyol. The club's bulk owner in Chinese.

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

China will be eliminated from credentials 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 certifying stage.

Englishman Rowan Simons has spent practically 40 years in China and got popularity doing tv commentary in Chinese on English Premier League matches. He also wrote the 2008 book "Bamboo Goalposts."

China is benefiting from reforms over the last decade that put soccer in schools. But Simons argues that soccer culture grows from volunteers, civil society and club organizations, none of which can flourish in China given that they are possible challengers to the guideline of the Communist Party.

"In China at the age of 12 or 13, when kids go to middle school, it ´ s known as the cliff," he says. "Parents might enable their kids to play sports when they ´ re more youthful, however as quickly as it comes to middle school the scholastic pressure is on - things like sport pass the wayside."

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

China has actually been successful targeting Olympic sports, a few of which are reasonably odd and count on repeated training more than creativity. Olympic team sports like soccer deal just one medal. So, like lots of countries, China focuses on sports with numerous medals. In China's case it's diving, table tennis and weightlifting.

"For young individuals, there's a single value - testing well," states Zhang, the commentator and journalist. "China would be OK if playing soccer were only about bouncing the ball 1,000 times."

Li Tie, the nationwide group coach for about 2 years beginning in January 2020, was last year sentenced to 20 years in jail for bribery and match repairing. Other top administrators have also been accused of corruption.

The graft also encompassed the domestic Super League. Clubs invested millions - possibly billions - on foreign talents backed by lots of state-owned services and, before the collapse of the housing boom, real-estate designers.

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 disbanded previously this year, unable to pay off its debts.

Zhang states businessmen purchased expert soccer teams as a "political homage" and pointed out Hui Ka-yan. The embattled property designer funded the Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club and utilized soccer to win favor from politicians.

Residential or commercial property giant Evergrande has 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 included," states Simons, who established a youth soccer club called China Club Football FC.

"Parents look at what ´ s going on and concern if they desire their kids to be included. It ´ s sad and aggravating."

Wade reported from Tokyo and Tang from Washington.

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