Before the Lunar New Year, the UAE Football Association officially invited the Chinese Football Association to send teams to participate in the "Dubai Cup" International Youth Football Championship scheduled to be held in the UAE from March 20 to 28 through official channels. The Chinese Football Association plans to arrange for the new U23 national football team in the 1999 age group to participate in this invitational tournament. Affected by objective factors such as the epidemic situation and limited international travel conditions, the Chinese Football Association has considered arranging for the U23 national football team to go to West Asia to participate in the last two rounds of the round of the 12 rounds at the same time to go to the United Arab Emirates from China around March 10, and then return to China from West Asia until the end of March.
Although whether the two teams can visit together is subject to the approval of the higher-level sports management department, it can be seen that the Chinese Football Association, while attaching importance to the preparation and competition work of the national football competition, has spared no effort to strive for favorable conditions for other echelons at all levels of the national brand, especially the opportunity for actual combat training.
In January this year, the UAE Football Association sent an invitation to the 2022 Dubai Cup International Youth Football Championship to eight FIFA member associations, including the Chinese Football Association, through official channels. Initiated by the UAE Football Association in 2017, the original purpose of this tournament is to help the UAE's national team strengthen international exchanges, improve the team's technical level and enrich its international competition experience. Affected by the epidemic, the event was forced to be suspended for the past two years, and it was not resumed until this year.
Previously, the 1995 age group U23 national football team led by the former national football coach Lippi assistant De Rosso had participated in the first competition of the invitational tournament and achieved a good result of the runner-up. This has also created favorable conditions for the UAE Football Association to continue to invite Chinese teams to participate.
It is understood that after receiving the invitation, the Chinese Football Association immediately communicated with all parties on whether it could participate. As we all know, due to the impact of the epidemic, the 1999 age group U23 national football team has not been able to participate in any international competition for more than 2 years. As a representative team that will participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games football match in China, the U23 national football team will face a relatively low quality of preparation if it cannot experience the warm-up matches of high quantity and quality. If the team thus delivers a bad answer sheet at the Hangzhou Asian Games, it will inevitably cause further damage to Chinese football, which is an outcome that the Chinese Football Association and all aspects of Chinese football are not willing to see.
The 1999 U23 national football team originally planned to go to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in late October last year to compete in the 5th U23 Asian Cup Qualifier Group G. However, due to the impact of the epidemic and the restriction of international travel conditions, the relevant departments at the higher level finally sent the Opinion of "Not Recommended to Send Teams to Participate" to the Chinese Football Association. In order to be responsible for the health and safety of personnel, the Chinese Football Association finally gave up sending teams to Tajikistan to compete, which meant that the U23 national football team did not have the opportunity to participate in the final stage of the U23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan this summer.
From this point of view, the "Dubai Cup" is a very rare opportunity for the U23 national football team to train troops in actual combat. It is understood that in addition to the traditional Asian teams such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, uae, Uzbekistan and other traditional Asian teams, there are also Vietnamese teams and Croatian teams from Europe, and the quality of the competition can be fully guaranteed. Therefore, both the Chinese Football Association and the coaching staff of the team with Jankovic as the coach are very eager for the team to participate in this event.
It is understood that the schedule of the top 12 national football matches has created conditions for the U23 national football team to visit and participate. According to the calendar, the Chinese team will play Saudi Arabia in the 9th round of the Round of 12 at home and Oman in the 10th round of the round on March 24 and 29 respectively. The "Dubai Cup" is held from March 20 to 28, which is close to the last two rounds of the national football round of 12. Also affected by the epidemic, the last home match of the Chinese team's top 12 matches will most likely be arranged in Sharjah, UAE. According to this, the Chinese Football Association considered arranging for the two teams to go to West Asia together and return to China together after the game, and the whole trip was in a strict "epidemic prevention closed loop". Such an arrangement can not only ensure the health and safety of the participants to the greatest extent, but also save considerable economic costs for the team's visit.
It is understood that the first training camp of the U23 national football team in 2022 ended on January 26, and the whole team plans to re-blow the rallying call in Haikou City in early March. After the national football team ended its closed quarantine (preparation) in Suzhou on the 24th of this month, it will also be re-concentrated in early March. The training site is also basically confirmed to be arranged in Haikou. The Chinese team is expected to depart for the UAE on March 10. This means that once the plans of the two teams to visit and participate in the competition have been approved by the superior management, the two teams will take the same flight from Haikou to Dubai, UNITED Arab Emirates, and then prepare for their respective matches in the local area.
Although the Chinese team will challenge Oman away in the final round of the round of 12, the transportation conditions between Muscat, Oman and Dubai, UNITED Arab Emirates, are very convenient, and even intercity buses have been opened between the two cities. Therefore, the national football team and the U23 national football team can meet in Dubai, return to China at the end of March, that is, after the end of the China-Arab match, and after arriving in Shanghai, they will be collectively transferred to Suzhou for quarantine observation.
At present, the Chinese Football Association is still waiting for the approval of the higher management department. However, from the perspective of preliminary preparations, the Chinese Football Association treats all equally on the issue of supporting the construction and preparation of national teams. Taking the just-concluded trip to win the Asian Cup of the Chinese women's football team as an example, all the guarantee standards for the team to visit India are consistent with the men's national team to participate in the World Preliminary Tournament, and after the triumph of the Chinese women's football team, it was also transferred to Suzhou for closure and isolation. It can be said that in the process of fighting for the preparation conditions for national teams at all levels, the Chinese Football Association is also racking its brains and doing its best.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Zhao