Our 2022
Strike all out!
Resigning the old and welcoming the new, Chinese football has entered 2022 in a sad voice. Although this year is still a "big year" for Chinese sports, the Winter Olympics at home in February and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September are the highlights, but for Chinese football, the situation and difficulties facing this year may be far more than the past 2021, because the Chinese men's and women's football teams at all levels will be in full swing, and no one knows what will be waiting for Chinese football. Among them, the Chinese women's football team will take the lead in firing the first shot of the International Competition of Chinese Football, and participate in the Asian Qualifiers of the Women's Football Asian Cup and the World Cup.
1
The men's four-country team attacked in full swing
Men's National Team: Continue the tour of the Round of 12
The biggest task of the Chinese men's football team this year is still to continue to play in the Asian top 12 of the Qatar World Cup qualifiers. Theoretically, the Chinese men's football team still has the opportunity to qualify for the play-offs, but after the new coach Li Xiaopeng succeeded Li Tie, the debut of the conductor was to challenge Japan at the Saitama 2002 World Cup Stadium on January 27, and then challenge Vietnam on February 1, the night of the traditional Chinese New Year festival. Can the national football team "continue to live" and continue to retain the suspense of the round of 12? These two matches will be decisive and will determine whether the matches against Saudi Arabia and Oman on March 24 and 29 respectively are just "routine".
If they can qualify for the play-offs, the national football team will travel to Doha in June to participate in the play-offs; if there is no play-off, the FIFA-designated national team match window from May 30 to June 14 can only arrange warm-up matches. However, with the current domestic epidemic prevention policy and the actual situation, it is difficult for the national football team to arrange warm-up matches, and it may even be directly occupied by the league and normally arrange the Chinese Super League.
After the end of the Round of 12, the most important event of the Chinese men's football team in the second half of the year is the East Asian Cup in China from July 19 to 27. Although the national football team can send the strongest lineup to play in the top two teams of South Korea and Japan, the opponent may only participate in the local second-tier lineup.
With the World Cup in Qatar in November, the Chinese men's soccer team will only be able to use the FIFA-designated national team match window from September 19 to 27 to arrange warm-up matches and train for the 2023 Asian Cup on its doorstep. Of course, in view of the reality in China, can the national football team arrange warm-up matches as desired, or continue to play in the Chinese Super League? It is still unknown.
U23 National Football Team (99 years old)
Affected by the epidemic, China's 99-age U23 national football team withdrew from the fifth U23 Asian Cup qualifier last year, and also lost the qualification for the final stage of the fifth U23 Asian Cup held in Uzbekistan from June 1 to 19 this year, and the Chinese team in this age group also lost a good opportunity to exercise, and will also affect the next age group, the 2001 age group U23 national football team, the future impact of the Paris Olympic Games.
Of course, for the 99-year-old U23 national football team, the most important event task this year is the Men's Football Tournament of the Hangzhou Asian Games that will be launched on September 6. According to the requirements of the relevant parties, the home competition must complete the task and goal of entering the quarterfinals or even the top four, but this team has not even participated in an international competition in 2020 and 2021, and the Asian teams of the same age group are training and warming up everywhere, and various international competitions have not been interrupted. How can China's U23 national football team compete with the Asian powers? This is probably the most worrying.
Since the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, China's U23 national football team has not even entered the quarterfinals for three consecutive years, including the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, which was also held on the doorstep. This time to play at home again, can China's U23 national football team look forward to it? Moreover, this will also be the last time that the "post-90s" in Chinese football will participate in the intercontinental competition, can the fans see some hope? No one can give a definitive answer.
U21 National Youth (01 age group)
Since failing to qualify in the group stage of the 2019 Asian U19 Youth Championship Qualifiers, the Chinese 2001 age group has not participated in international competitions of the same age. Fortunately, with an eye to the future 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the Chinese Football Association has let the coaching staff led by Cheng Yaodong lead the team of this age group to participate in the Chinese Second League in 2020 and 2021, which will help the growth of players in this age group a lot. In fact, in the past season, many players in this age group have begun to appear in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League A. Although many foreign aides in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League One have withdrawn, it undoubtedly provides more opportunities and growth platforms for these young players.
After entering 2022, although the teams in this age group do not have intercontinental competition tasks, if they want to have a better growth stage and space, I am afraid that they should no longer just compete in the Chinese Second League, but should strive to participate in a higher level of the Chinese First League. This is two completely different concepts from "national football playing in the Chinese Super League".
U19 National Youth (03 age group)
China's 2003 age group U19 national youth team, coached by Espanyol Antonio, will usher in its first small test this year. From September 10 to 18 this year, the Chinese U19 national youth team will participate in the group stage of the 41st U20 Asian Cup qualifiers. Previously known as the Asian U19 Youth Championship, the AFC will launch a new package from 2021, renaming the event and moving the event back one year. The final stage of the tournament is scheduled to take place in Uzbekistan in the first half of 2023, and the top four teams will compete in the 2023 U20 World Youth Championships in Indonesia.
The Chinese national youth team has not won a ticket to the World Youth Championship since 2005, and now even the ticket to the final stage of the U20 Asian Cup needs to work hard, because in the group stage of the previous 2019 qualifier, the Chinese national youth team did not get a ticket to the final stage. Can Antonio lead the team to change this situation?
U17 Country Junior (05 age group)
The 2005 age group will not have a formal intercontinental event task in the next year like the 2001 age team, but because it belongs to the age group of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, the Chinese Football Association has been formed since last year, and Yang Chen, the head coach of the U16 national junior team, that is, the 2006 age group, is also the head coach of the age team, responsible for the formation and preparation. This year's main focus will be on domestic training.
U16 country junior (06 age group)
The Chinese 2006 U16 National Junior Team, coached by Yang Chen, will also usher in its first minor exam this year, and will participate in the group stage of the 20th U17 Asian Cup qualifiers from October 1 to 9. The pre-match was previously known as the "Asian U16 Junior Championship", and the AFC will launch a new package from 2021, changing the name of the event and moving the event back one year as a whole. The final stage of the tournament is scheduled to take place in Bahrain in the first half of 2023, and the top four teams will compete in the U17 World Youth Championships in Peru in the second half of 2023.
China's 2000 age group and 2002 age group two U16 national junior teams have failed to qualify in the previous Asian Junior Championship qualifiers, that is, even the top 16 in Asia have not been able to enter, and the 2004 age group team has regained the Final Stage of the Asian Junior Championship, but due to the epidemic, the Asian Junior Championship final stage competition that was supposed to be held in 2020 has also been cancelled, so the Chinese Junior Team has no chance to prove its ability and level in the Asian competition. This time, Yang Chen led the 2006 age group to play, can he first enter the final stage of the competition? This will be the first hurdle.
In addition, the football match of the 3rd Asian Youth Games, which was supposed to be held in Shantou in November last year, was postponed due to the epidemic, and the new schedule was scheduled to be held in Shantou in December this year. According to the competition regulations, the players participating in the Asian Youth Association men's football tournament are players born after January 1, 2006, and Yang Chen will lead the team to play at the doorstep of the family. It's also worth noting.
2
The rebuilding of the women's national team is a top priority
Compared with the men's national team to attack in the fourth line, the top priority of the women's football team is the national team, and the Chinese women's football team will launch the first round of the group stage of the 20th Women's Asian Cup on January 20, and the opponent will be the Chinese Taipei team, which is the first team at all levels to shoot the first shot in 2022.
The fiasco at the Tokyo Olympics once again plunged the Chinese women's football team into an unprecedented shock, not only the head coach was replaced by Shui Qingxia to replace Jia Xiuquan, but the management body and management mode of the entire team also underwent major changes. The women's football team played in the Asian Cup is the first time after this "new life". Therefore, the Women's Football Asian Cup is also the 2023 Women's World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Asia has a total of "6 + 2" seats, that is, in addition to 6 directly qualified teams (including the Australian women's football team), there are 2 places to participate in the play-offs, the entire Asian women's football world still presents a "five-strong dispute", because the North Korean women's football team withdrew from the qualifiers, the Chinese women's football team and Japan, Australia and South Korea to enter the World Cup final circle There is no suspense, but whether the Chinese women's football team can make a breakthrough in the Asian Cup, Regaining the title of Asian Champion? This is probably the focus of the fans' attention.
In addition to the Women's Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, the Hangzhou Asian Games Women's Football Tournament, played on home from September 6 to 24, will be another opportunity for Chinese women's football to regain the Asian women's football team. If it is said that because of the short takeover time and the rush to play in the Women's Asian Cup, it is better to take advantage of the battle at the doorstep and have a better chance of impacting the women's football gold medal, after all, the Chinese women's football team won a silver medal four years ago. Since the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, the Chinese women's football team has never touched the Asian Games women's football gold medal, and at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, which was also held on the doorstep, the Chinese women's football team did not even win a medal, only ranked fourth.
Before the Asian Games, the East Asian Cup women's football match held on the mainland from July 19 to 27 is a good training opportunity, and the Japanese women's football team, the Korean women's football team, the South Korean women's football team, etc. will become the object of the Chinese women's football training, and it is also the best outpost before the Asian Games.
Originally, the 10th U20 Women's Asian Cup Final Stage Competition (02 age group) in Uzbekistan and the 11th U17 Women's Asian Cup Final Stage Competition in Indonesia (05 age group) in 2022 were supposed to be held in Uzbekistan, but the AFC decided to cancel these two events in July last year due to the epidemic, and decided to continue these two competitions in Uzbekistan and Indonesia in 2024, of course, the age of the participating players has changed accordingly. Therefore, the Chinese women's youth team and the Chinese women's junior team will no longer have intercontinental event tasks this year, the original two women's football youth teams have been disbanded, and the women's department of the Football Association has also begun to form the 04 age group U20 women's football national youth team and the 07 age group U17 women's football national junior team and launch training, and began to prepare for the next event qualifier in 2023.
3
How clubs respond to the AFC Champions League is the focus
In terms of foreign wars, in addition to the men's and women's national teams at all levels, the most eye-catching is probably the club team playing in the annual AFC Champions League. In terms of men's football, due to the impact of objective factors such as the epidemic in the past two years, the Chinese Super League clubs have performed disappointingly in the past AFC Champions League for two consecutive years, and the Chinese Super League has also fallen from the first place in Asia at the end of 2019 to the latest Asian seventh place at the end of 2021. If no changes are made in the 2022 AFC Champions League, the Chinese Super League may not even be able to secure enough seats.
It has been confirmed that the four teams representing the Chinese And Chinese Super League in this year's AFC Champions League, namely Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Harbor, Guangzhou and Changchun Yatai, will be drawn in groups on January 17. However, whether the final four can finally participate in the competition will be determined after the qualification review of the independent audit body of the AFC. According to the AFC competition schedule, the east Asian regional matches before the group stage of this year's AFC Champions League will be held on March 15, and the group stage will be held in a conference format between April 15 and May 1, with rounds every three days. Under the epidemic situation, can the Chinese Super League clubs participate smoothly? It is still unknown.
As for the women's AFC Champions League, after the previous two trial events, will the AFC once again conduct similar experimental events this year to prepare for the first official event in 2023? The AFC has yet to give a definitive statement. But if it is hosted, the Wuhan Jiangda women's football team, which represented China in last year's Women's Super League, will face the same situation as the top four of the Chinese Super League.
Although it has entered 2022, the situation and difficulties faced by Chinese football are almost the same as in the past two years, and the biggest problem is that the national teams at all levels cannot arrange international warm-up matches normally, and even go abroad to participate in the competition. This will be another challenging year for Chinese football.