At the end of this month, the Chinese national football team will once again compete in the World Preliminary Round of 12. Although the hope of qualifying for the World Cup finals has been completely lost, the results of the last two "battle of honors" are still very important for the national football team. In recent days, according to relevant reports in omani media, Oman will send "second teams" to participate in the game against the national football team, which will undoubtedly greatly increase the possibility of the national football team winning.
Like China, Oman has lost hope of competing in the World Cup. According to Omani media "lo3btna", the Omani national team plans to assemble on March 15 to prepare for the last two matches against Oman and China. Considering that the last two games are no longer meaningful, Oman coach Ivankovic will meet the opponent with a second-tier squad, giving more opportunities for substitutes and young players in the game. Obviously, for Ivankovic, the task of the last two games is to scout the newcomers.
Omani media pointed out that such a decision was made mainly because Oman's current task has been completely shifted to next year's Asian Cup, so it is necessary to reserve more available talents to accumulate strength for the Asian Cup. Oman, on the other hand, has played better than expected in this round of 12, and Ivankovic is under much less pressure, which allows him to exercise his new talents in the game.
It can be seen that compared with the Chinese team, Oman has paid significantly less attention to the last two matches. Although the national football team also missed the World Cup, considering the current domestic public opinion environment, Li Xiaopeng obviously will not have reservations in the remaining matches. Especially the match against Oman, as the final battle of the round of 12, has been characterized as the most important "battle of honor" of the national football team, if the time can not win Oman, the national football team will become the target of public criticism.
Compared with Saudi Arabia, which still needs to compete for the first place in the group, Oman is not only weaker, but also the task of training newcomers also determines that they will not send the strongest squad when facing the national football team. From this point of view, when Li Xiaopeng leads the first official game victory of the national football team, it is likely that it will be won by this opponent.