In April, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited a company that makes humanoid robots. There he floated an idea to fix the country's woeful men's soccer team.

“Can we have robots join the team?” Xi was quoted as saying on the website of Zhiyuan Robotics.

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It might be too late. China will be out of World Cup qualifying if it fails to beat Indonesia on Thursday. Even a victory may only delay the departure.

What's the problem? China has 1.4 billion people, the globe's second largest 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?

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