The "service period" of several naturalized players of the Chinese men's football team hastily ended before they could survive a complete World Preliminary Tournament. Axon, Lo Guofu, Alain and Fernando collectively refused to accompany the national football team to the last two matches of the World Preliminary Tournament, and whether they can continue to play for the national team in the future depends entirely on whether they can get the opportunity to make money from the Chinese Super League. Considering that almost all Chinese Super League teams are now tightening their banks, the national football team is obviously ready to lose these four players forever.
The "four returns" and the national team are gradually drifting apart, which is a fatal blow to Li Xiaopeng. Unlike his predecessor Li Tie, Li Xiaopeng has an almost obsessive preference for naturalized players, and in the "New Year's War" between the national football team and Vietnam, he pushed Luo Guofu and Alain, who have not had systematic training and competition for more than two months, to the start, which is a crazy decision that is difficult for any professional coach with nearly three decades of experience to make. Unfortunately, in addition to the results of which proved that Luo Guofu was a "real man for thirty minutes", Li Xiaopeng's use of naturalized players did not gain any practical significance.
But this time, Li Xiaopeng decided to gamble on another naturalized player, so the national football training list not only included Axon, Alain and Luo Guofu, but also included Fernando, who basically did not play much in the whole of last year. However, when the naturalized players and the Chinese men's football team completely tore off the camouflage mask of "you nong, me nong", Li Xiaopeng pleaded almost humblely for the naturalized players, in exchange for only a cold refusal. What is even more tricky is that without these four people, there are only two available strikers under Li Xiaopeng at present.
Previously, the media has exposed that in the match between the national football team and Saudi Arabia and Oman, Li Xiaopeng is likely to use the new "trident" combination of Dai Weijun, Zhang Yuning and Liu Binbin. Regardless of the strength of this new combination, looking at the qualifications alone, many fans may not even know where Dai Weijun is sacred, and Liu Binbin has few opportunities to show his face in the national football team. Among the three, only Zhang Yuning has proved that he has the main ability in the national football team, and he is also the only reliable choice in the front line of this national football team.
In this World Preliminary Tournament, Zhang Yuning scored three goals for the national football team, including one goal against Vietnam in the round of 12. In the last round against Vietnam, Zhang Yuning replaced Alain in the second half, and the offensive quality of the national football team has obviously rebounded, proving that the new Chinese Super League local goalscorer king does have a battle. Of course, as far as the current situation is concerned, Zhang Yuning is not only a combat strength, but has even become a choice that Li Xiaopeng has to use.
The question now is, can Zhang Yuning fill the "vacuum" left by the naturalized players after leaving? Statistically, it seems that Zhang Yuning has this ability, because several major naturalized forwards add up to score only 1 goal in the round of 12 matches, which is the same as Zhang Yuning's goal count; however, considering that Zhang Yuning is leading a new and unpolished offensive combination this time, coupled with the fact that the first battle will face a strong enemy like Saudi Arabia, the overall strategic thinking of the national football team will definitely be based on "no collapse", and how much forward support Zhang Yuning can get at that time is a huge problem.
From another point of view, in fact, the significance of the four naturalized players to the Chinese men's football team is like the dangerous god Yu Baosi to Song Jiang, although there is no great power, but it is okay to put on the face of the door to scare people; when it is really not possible, it can also have a few rounds of bravery. Now, the "door face" of the men's football team has been demolished, and the outside world can face the weak inner of this team, and the future is naturally more and more dangerous.
This is the reality of national football in the post-naturalization era. This team has repeatedly proven that their problems cannot be solved by a few people or a few people. This time in the last two World Preliminary Tournaments, who will expect Li Xiaopeng to bring any "new atmosphere" to the national football team without naturalized players? If so, be prepared for "cautious pessimism."