According to the plan, the Chinese men's football team will officially lift the "14+7" quarantine on February 24 and disband in Shanghai. However, most of the team will regroup in Haikou on March 3 after just one week of rest, and plan to leave for the United Arab Emirates around the 10th of that month to prepare for the final two rounds of the round of 12 (home against Saudi Arabia and away to Oman). Wu Lei, Li Lei and several naturalized (naturalized) internationals who play for European clubs may go directly to West Asia to compete as long as their physical conditions and competitive status meet the requirements. For the majority of national football team members participating in this western expedition, their new and old seasons can be described as "seamless docking", and the work in 2022 will also be more arduous.
On February 22, the Chinese men's football team will conduct the last outdoor joint training of this training session in Suzhou. According to the relevant epidemic prevention regulations, the whole team will leave the resident hotel in Suzhou on the 23rd, and then be collectively transferred to the designated hotel in Shanghai in the "bubble" epidemic prevention closed-loop mode. After receiving the last nucleic acid test and passing the test in the closed concentration on the same day, the whole team will be disbanded in Shanghai on the 24th.
In the 7th and 8th rounds of the Round of 12 in late January and early February, the Chinese team suffered two consecutive defeats, and lost to Vietnam for the first time in the historic away game, thus missing the final stage of the World Cup in Qatar in the first round. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, all members of the national football delegation must accept a 14+7-day quarantine according to regulations after returning to China on February 3, Beijing time. Due to the continuous severe situation of epidemic prevention and control in China, there have been recent outbreaks in Suzhou, so the whole process of team isolation is carried out in Suzhou "within the closed loop". Coaches, players and officials of the Chinese Football Association in the delegation were unable to reunite with their families during the Spring Festival, and their misses for their families can be imagined.
However, the national football team is still very eager to play the last two rounds of the round of 12. Affected by the epidemic, the 9th round of the Round of 12 matches between the national football team and Saudi Arabia is scheduled to be held in Sharjah, UNITED Arab Emirates, on March 24. The new season of the Chinese Super League will not start until late April at the earliest, so the coaching team has determined after communicating with the team management that it will organize a new training session of the national football team from March 3. From the lifting of the quarantine on February 24 to the re-concentration on March 3, there was only one week of rest for the members involved in the next national football journey to the west.
It is understood that after the end of this period of Suzhou closed training, the Chinese coaching staff and international football candidates will have a certain range of adjustments. For example, one of the Chinese coaches, Chen Yangru, the coach of the Changchun Yatai team of the Chinese Super League, will go directly to Hainan after the closure and isolation of this period and return to the Changchun Yatai team that is preparing for the new season there. Since the new season yatai team faces multi-line operations in the AFC Champions League, league and cup matches, the team also needs the head coach to return to the team as soon as possible. For some reason, the local coach who failed to accompany the team to Japan and Vietnam to participate in the 7th and 8th rounds of the round of 12, former international Sun Jihai is expected to return to the coaching staff and accompany the team to the west.
During the Shanghai training camp in January, Irving Wilk, a Brazilian physical coach seconded by Shanghai Shenhua Club, and Pep, a Spanish assistant coach who had traveled directly from Barcelona to Tokyo to meet the national football team, will continue to stay in China after the end of this training camp and continue to work from the next training camp.
In terms of players, counting the 10 players who were added to the team in the beginning of this month, a total of 32 players participated in the closed training in Suzhou. The vast majority of the players who play in the final two rounds of the round of 12 will be selected from these 32. As for whether Wu Lei, Li Lei and several naturalized (naturalized) players can participate in the last two rounds of the Round of 12 with the team, it is up to the coaching team to determine according to their physical condition and competitive status. The Chinese Football Association will also officially confirm the specific list of personnel of the national football team in this western expedition this week.
According to the arrangement, after the Chinese team gathered in Haikou on March 3, it is likely to train locally for a week, and then travel to the UNITED Arab Emirates around March 10. Since the 1999 age group U23 national football team was invited to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the Dubai Cup International Youth Football Invitational Tournament, the Chinese Football Association and relevant parties will soon have to communicate with the specific details of the two national teams traveling to and from China and West Asia.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao