However, with the ongoing battle against the coronavirus and travel restrictions in place around the region, these games need to be rescheduled.

The CFA has asked to hold their “home” game in Sydney and await the decision of the AFC, Korean Football Association and Football Federation Australia.

China’s coaching staff also want to add players to the roster for the two-legged play-off, which has a place at Tokyo 2020 for the winner.

The team were without their Wuhan-based players in Australia for the group stage, as they stayed with their families through Lunar New Year in the city that is at the epicentre of the outbreak.

Those players missing include Wang Shuang, the former Paris St-Germain Femenins player and undoubted star of the team.

While it has been reported that neither Wang nor any of her China teammates locked down in Wuhan will be allowed to join up, the CFA hopes any players they call up will be able to leave China soon enough to fulfil entry requirements for South Korea and Australia.

The team had briefly spent time training in Wuhan – the original host for the group stage before it moved to Nanjing and then Sydney – before leaving ahead of Lunar New Year.

They met up, minus those Wuhan-based players, in Suzhou on their way to Australia but were still quarantined in their Brisbane hotel before being cleared to play.

Chinese media reported that the coaching staff had considered Thailand or Japan to host China’s home leg and to stage a training camp ahead of the first leg in South Korea on March 6, but those plans have been shelved as the number infected with the virus continues to rise.

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State news agency Xinhua reported that the CFA explored the possibility of playing the second leg in Japan, but this was abandoned after Japan announced that Chinese citizens carrying passports issued by Hubei and Zhejiang provinces will be denied entry.

A decision from the AFC could come as soon as Thursday.