National football big list
Add ten people?
On February 8, on the day when the Chinese women's football team returned from winning the Asian Cup after 16 years and went to Suzhou for quarantine, the Chinese men's national football team, which looked a little gray due to the loss to Vietnam in the round of 12 on the Spring Festival day, reappeared on the training ground and began the first training after the Spring Festival, including 10 new players newly recruited. It is understood that in the face of the next two final 12 matches and the future Hangzhou Asian Games and the 2023 Asian Cup, the Chinese Football Association did not make another "big bet" as the outside world called for, but began to replace the national team in accordance with the existing football rules.
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Complement 10 players behind
After the men's national team returned to China for quarantine after the seventh and eighth rounds of the round of 12 matches, because it coincided with the Spring Festival, the team did not immediately resume training, but let the players rest until the afternoon of the 8th to resume training. Before the training began, the Chinese Football Association released the news of the supplementary recruitment of 10 players through its official website, and in the first training session on the afternoon of the 8th, these 10 players and 22 players who rushed back from abroad participated in the training together.
After consecutive losses to Japan and Vietnam, the Chinese men's football team completely failed to qualify. In this case, on the one hand, the men's football team has been criticized by all walks of life, on the other hand, some people have called for the complete dissolution of the current national team and the full use of young players in order to start preparing for the next event tasks and even including the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, after all, the average age of this national team is now more than 30 years old, which is the largest average age among the top 12 teams. However, this proposal does not seem to have been adopted by the Chinese Football Association, and the relevant parties have not forced the national team to carry out a major blood change.
Similar measures like the World Cup qualifiers to make the national team completely "young" after the impact of the world cup qualifiers have not been used in the history of the development of the Chinese men's national football team in the past, especially before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the then Chinese Football Association adopted the so-called "big national team" model under the requirements of relevant parties, replacing the national team with the national Olympic team, with the intention of training troops. But it turned out to be unfeasible. This time, in the face of future events such as the Asian Cup at the doorstep of 2023 and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese Football Association did not choose "one size fits all" in the face of the reality that the national team players were older and the structure was unreasonable, but decided to adopt more reasonable transitional measures to gradually realize the replacement of new and old personnel.
Therefore, when the Chinese Football Association released the news of supplementary recruitment of 10 players into the team through its official website, it has clearly revealed such information: First of all, although the last two rounds of the round of the 12 rounds at the end of March this year are "routine", the Chinese Football Association will still send the strongest squad to play, rather than using the way of seedlings to directly replace the national team in the name of training.
Secondly, the work of replacing the old and new of the national team has been fully launched. Because of the 10 players recruited this time, in addition to Liao Lisheng is a member of the 93 national Olympic team and Gao Zhunyi is a player in the 95 age group, the other 8 players, Such as Liu Yu, Yan Dinghao, Yang Liyu, Wu Shaocong, Gao Tianyi, Han Jiaqi, Jiang Shenglong and Tong Lei, are all players of the 97 national Olympic team, and they are also relatively potential players in various positions. Like Wu Shaocong, who was supposed to follow the national team to play in the japanese and Vietnamese battles, he was forced to cut love at the last moment due to the limited quota. The selection of these young players will undoubtedly greatly reduce the average age of the Chinese men's national football team, and at this stage, "taking the old with the new" can actually help the national team complete the blood exchange work faster.
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It is more important to follow the rules of exchange transmutation
Although the men's football team is currently in an embarrassing situation of "thousands of fingers" due to the loss, after the team returned to Suzhou, when the coaching team negotiated the next work plan with the leaders of the Football Association, they were not tied by the current situation, or made a relatively wise choice, that is, they did not completely disband the national team, but accelerated the blood change of the current team.
The so-called wisdom is that the Football Association and the coaching staff are very clear: the national team should gather the best players and form the strongest squad at any time and in any game, after all, it represents and reflects the level of football in a country or region and the current situation of development. Moreover, the national team is always the focus of attention of the outside world, if the outside world such as the "U23 national football team" to replace the proposal, once the actual performance in the game is not ideal, the outside world will accuse the Football Association or the national team coaching staff: why send a group of young players, rather than the best players to represent the national team?
Another important reason why the Chinese men's national football team has been slow to replace the old and new in recent years is that the current competitive level and personal ability of young players in China have not reached the level of surpassing their predecessors, but more can only be natural succession. If the current national team is completely disbanded, the national team composed of young players may have worse results and levels. During the Round of 12, there have been people of insight who have repeatedly voiced such a voice: "You think that the current national team is too poor, but they may be the best level and ability players in the next decade or even longer!" ”
In this case, how to maintain the existing level and then strive to improve on this basis? This is actually the focus of the next national team construction work. Therefore, on the basis of retaining the backbone of the current national team, adding some potential young players has become the most reasonable choice. Judging from the current situation, the former members of the national Olympic team in the 89 age group may have greatly withdrawn from the historical stage of the national team, such as Zhang Linpeng, Wang Shenchao, Zheng Zheng, Wu Xi, Chi Zhongguo, Ji Xiang, Wang Dalei, etc. are all players in this age group, and players in the 91 age group such as Zhang Xizhe, Wu Lei, and Yan Junling also belong to the 89-age national Olympic team, as for older players like Arthur Junmin, Yu Dabao, Tan Long, I am afraid that they will also quit the national team. Of course, players like Wu Lei, or players in the goalkeeper position, may still remain in the national team, but in the future 2023 Asian Cup, the national football team can no longer play with this group of players. Most of the 10 young players recruited this time are relatively promising players in various positions, and the purpose is also to speed up the blood exchange process.
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The U23 national football team has another mission
From another point of view, the Chinese 99-year-old U23 national football team under the command of head coach Jankovic has a more important event task this year, that is, the Asian Games men's football match held in Hangzhou in September. On the one hand, affected by the epidemic, this team has not played an international game for more than two years, if you suddenly let this group of players directly replace the national football team in the remaining two rounds of the top 12 matches, it is likely to encounter a more painful defeat in the first round of the 12 round in Doha 0-3 to the Australian team, after all, young players have no impression and concept of the current international competition, especially the highest level of competition in Asia, although there is no longer a performance requirement, but there is a possibility of being "played", once so, The growth of these young players is actually quite detrimental in itself.
According to the law of growth, because the Chinese Football Association has long noticed the problem of national team personnel, as early as the end of the Indonesia U19 Asian Youth Championship in November 2018, the Chinese Football Association directly appointed Jankovic to form a team of this age group and began to prepare for this year's fifth U23 Asian Cup and the Hangzhou Asian Games, but because of the impact of the epidemic, it had to be interrupted for two years, that is, the international competition mentioned above could not be played. After giving up the fifth U23 Asian Cup qualifier due to the epidemic, the Chinese U23 national football team also lost the qualification to participate in the final stage of the competition in June this year, but in the face of the hangzhou Asian Games, the Chinese Football Association is still trying to create international competition opportunities for the team. This is why the news from Iraq a few days ago that "The Chinese U23 national football team will participate in the Dubai Cup Eight Nations Tournament in the United Arab Emirates in late March" was announced. Of course, whether the trip can finally be completed is not within the control of the Chinese Football Association.
Let the U23 national football team participate in some international competitions first, and then strive for the opportunity to play on the doorstep, perform at the Asian Games and achieve a relatively good result, which will be of great benefit to the establishment of players' self-confidence. Then, on this basis, some outstanding players will join the national team to better prepare for the 2023 Asian Cup, which is the specific embodiment and choice of respecting the basic growth law of football in the construction of the national team at this stage, rather than choosing the so-called big gamble as before.
Consecutive defeats in the top 12 matches, at least from the current situation, the relevant management departments and the coaching staff of the national football team can still maintain clarity and rationality, and can make more reasonable choices. This is the next, the top 12 will still be the strongest national team, of course, there will be a lot of new faces, just like Dai Weijun in the Japanese and Vietnamese battles. As a "reserve team", the U23 national football team will strive for more talents for the national team in an all-round way to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
At the same time that the two national football teams may travel to West Asia at the same time in March, the Chinese U21 national youth team, which is the lower echelon, has concentrated in Shanghai on February 10 to prepare for the battle. For Chinese football, what is most needed now is not a "doctrine", but first of all, stability, "no tossing", and persistence and perseverance. This is especially true for the construction of national teams.