With the 41-year-old Zheng Zhi being selected for the coaching team of the national football team today, he has once again created two new records for the Chinese men's football team. Zheng Zhi, born in 1980, was first selected for the national name to participate in important events in the 1999 Sydney Olympic Qualifiers. Since then, he has missed the opportunity for the golden generation of the national football team to participate in the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, but since the 2006 World Preliminary Tournament, he has never missed the World Cup journey of the national football team.
Although Zheng Zhi was selected as a member of the coaching team, it is well known that local players are embarrassing to reuse, and naturalized players may be absent collectively this year, so the possibility of 41-year-old Zheng Zhi playing in the team is not ruled out. But regardless of whether Zheng Zhi can appear as a player in this round of 12, he has created the latest record of the national football team, and it is an unprecedented great record.
First, it is the first member in the history of national football to participate in the World Preliminary Tournament for 5 consecutive years. It contains managers, players, teaching assistants, etc. Because Zheng Zhi started from the 2006 World Preliminary Tournament to the 2018 World Preliminary Tournament, he participated in 4 consecutive years as a player. He only faded out of the national team after the 2019 Asian Cup. However, with the selection as a coach again, Zheng Zhi has completed the record of participating in the World Preliminary Tournament for 5 consecutive years.
Second, the member who represents the national football team with the most times to participate in the World Preliminary Tournament. He has been present in 5 consecutive World Preliminary Tournaments, which has made Zheng Zhi the first person in the history of national football, and from the number of participations, the 5 tournaments span 18 years (2004-2022), which really cannot find a second person in the history of Chinese men's football. The experience of the 5 World Preliminaries is likely not to be his end, and zheng Zhi may serve in the national team for a long time after this World Preliminary Tournament, and even serve the coaching work of the next World Preliminary Tournament. So the above record may also be continued on him.
Zheng Zhi's biggest regret in life is that he has not participated in the World Cup finals, and this regret can hardly be changed in today's World Preliminary Round. Although Zheng Zhi did not retire, his Dream of the World Cup could not be realized. Even if he can't participate in the World Cup finals, he can't erase Zheng Zhi's contribution to Chinese football. The 41-year-old Zheng Zhi once participated in one of the FIFA club world cups as a captain and also played in the Premier League, so he is a player who has seen the world, so even if he appears again in this round of 12, everyone should not be too surprised.