Two Chinas at North America’s World Cup

North America’s World Cup summer has begun, and China is once again outside the tournament rather than inside it. That fact is familiar. But it should not be flattened into the usual joke about a country of 1.4 billion people failing to find eleven footballers. China did not vanish at the first hurdle. It narrowly reached the third round of Asian qualifying in 2024, preserving hopes of returning to the finals for the first time since 2002. But the expanded 48-team format, and Asia’s