China is a very large country, inhabited by many Chinese. Looking back it seems fair to say Charles de Gaulle was probably right in this assessment, not to say prophetic. In the intervening years China has become even larger. It is inhabited by even more Chinese.

To the outsider this vastness can seem a little dizzying. This is the last great wilderness once humans have killed off the rest of them: other humans. China has more than one hundred cities with more than a million inhabitants, cities with their own traditions, infrastructure, hierarchies, artisan coffee stall scenes and endless, unknowable inner lives. China has 250 million pensioners. Imagine four United Kingdoms occupied entirely by old people. Imagine four Brexits. That’s how many people there are in China.

And yet it seems this still isn’t quite enough. Not when it comes to World Cup qualifying and the fevered dreams of Xi Jinping-era Chinese football. As of this month it is necessary to add a plus-one to the 1.4 billion population in the shape of former Everton and England Under-21 defender Tyias Browning, who is now a Chinese citizen, and even has a Chinese name: Jiang Guangtai.

Browning signed for Guangzhou Evergrande in February after spells at Sunderland, Preston and Wigan. Six months later he is officially Chinese. Although not yet Chinese enough – according to reports in the Chinese-English media – for his legal team to convince Fifa he has the right to take part in this week’s round of AFC Group A World Cup qualifiers.

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When full clearance arrives Browning will have a fair chance of lining up in China’s central defence behind another familiar face. Nico Yennaris did play for China against Guam this week. In July, Yennaris, formerly of Arsenal and the England age groups, became the first naturalised player for the world’s most populous nation. He also has a Chinese name: Li Ke.

There is a serendipity to all this. Fancy seeing you here old boy! Eight years ago Jiang Guangtai and Li Ke played on opposite sides as Arsenal reserves beat Everton reserves 4-1 at London Colney, a match also notable for the fact Shkodran Mustafi was in the Everton defence, albeit with a scoreline made slightly less notable by the fact Shkodran Mustafi was in the Everton defence.

Five years ago Browning was on the bench next to Harry Kane as a Gareth Southgate England Under-21 team played Wales in a Euro qualifier. Fast forward another three and he could yet end up marking Kane at the Qatar World Cup. It is a possibility that has moved closer with the upsurge in China’s fortunes since the decision to redefine what being a Chinese footballer actually means.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tyias Browning in action for Guangzhou Evergrande against Melbourne Victory in April. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/EPA-EFE

It should be said Yennaris and Browning have a Chinese family link: Browning through his grandfather; and Yennaris, who was born in Hackney, London, through his mother. But they also appear to be the exceptions in this vanguard.

Elkeson, a 30-year-old Brazilian from Maranhão, also played for China as they thrashed the island of Guam 7-0. Rumour has it Ricardo Goulart, another journeyman Brazilian, could soon be naturalised. Even Alex Teixeira, perpetually Premier League-linked, could be considered for naturalisation from 2021, just in time for Qatar.

The obvious question is: does any of this matter? Football careers are an adventure, journeys without maps. Yennaris and Browning have family ties. Elkeson wrapped himself in the Chinese flag and wept in front of his parents in the stands after his debut against the Maldives last month. Good luck to them all – enjoy the ride.

But it does raise some interesting questions. Questions such as, what is international sport for? This is not a test of genes. It’s not supposed to be about soft power or reflecting glory on political egomaniacs. The only logical purpose is a test of systems, a way of seeing how well, how efficiently, each country has arranged its resources, of learning from one another for the wider public good, working out what works, what doesn’t work, refining the system.

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When other forces start to blur these boundaries it can skew the picture. Under this logic Owen Hargreaves was not really an English footballer because he didn’t learn any of his football there. Whereas Tammy Abraham, for example, is English, his sporting skill-set forged in English football, a reflection of good choices made somewhere along the way.

China seemed to get this, to see its huge investment in football as a chance also to improve the lives of its citizens, albeit in slightly mind-boggling, group-think fashion. Xi wants China to win the World Cup. He also wants to transform its population, with billions poured into football facilities in every school, academy programmes for all, and additional taxes on overseas players filling the professional leagues.

Communism! But take a step back, these are all brilliant ideas, not least when compared with the UK’s lack of public facilities, the abandonment of the population to ill-health and obesity. Bring it on. Bring on the centrally funded means of football production.

Except it hasn’t quite worked out. China failed to qualify for Russia 2018 and something seemed to shift. The employment of Marcello Lippi as national team manager on $28m a year was a bit of an eyeroll-emoji moment. And yet in a way the pragmatism and fudged principles are much more authentically football, closer to the real world, the hunger for victory at any cost that so often leads to defeat and frustration at any cost.

Stockpile your Brazilians. Thrash Guam and wildly overcelebrate before your inevitable elimination some time next year. This is all a part of football’s brilliance, its refusal to bend, the sense of something untamed and doggedly defiant that still lies beneath the corporate layers. Welcome on board, China. Just remember it doesn’t get any easier from here.