At 00:00 Beijing time on March 24, China's U23 men's football team will usher in the first match of the Dubai Cup, against the UAE Olympic team.
"I am very happy to be able to participate in the Dubai Cup, only by playing with the masters can we know how our real level is, and then improve in a targeted manner. There is no concept of a friendly here, as long as it is a game, everyone should go all out and strive to win. China U23 men's football coach Jankovic said.
The Dubai Cup workout is worth a lot
The U23 national football team is the 1999 age group, and the Dubai Cup is the first time that this team has participated in competitions abroad since its establishment. Previously, due to the impact of the epidemic, they missed the 2021 U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, and therefore did not qualify for the U23 Asian Cup final.
In this context, the U23 national football team, which shoulders the task of this year's Asian Games, attaches great importance to the Dubai Cup. In addition to China, the 10 participating teams in this year's Dubai Cup include Japan, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Thailand and Vietnam. The schedule of the Dubai Cup is that 10 teams will play two matches according to the arrangement of the organizing committee, and then calculate the results of each team according to the results of the two games, and the teams with similar results will compete for the championship and runner-up until the third game of the ninth and tenth places. In this Dubai Cup, the opponents of the first two matches of the Chinese U23 men's football team are the United Arab Emirates and the Thai team.
The lineup is basically determined
The U23 national football team was formed more than three years ago and has been led by Serbian coach Jankovic. After several years of running-in, the team's lineup has been basically determined, and in the previous warm-up match with the UAE powerhouse Wahda Club, the U23 national football team drew 1-1 with the opponent, showing a certain strength.
Judging from the previous training and warm-up matches, the suspense of the U23 national football team starting 11 people tomorrow morning is not very big. At the offensive end, Tao Qianglong will become the core player in the front court, in addition, Liu Zhurun of the Harbor team feels good in front of the goal, and Fang Hao, who is from luneng's youth training and shows a strong personal breakthrough ability in the warm-up game, will also lock in a starting position.
In terms of midfield, the positions of Chen Guokang and Sun Qinhan are also relatively stable. In the match against Wahda, it was Chen Guokang who scored the equalizer for the U23 national football team. As for the back line, Wu Shaocong and Jiang Shenglong were first selected for the national football team, and then reported to the U23 national football team. In addition, Huang Jiahui from Dalian also had a good performance as the post-captain in the league last season.
In general, although the starting 11 people are not all the main players of the Chinese Super League, they also have a certain amount of game experience, and this set of starts is still more exciting.
Want to make a difference
After more than three years of leading the team, Jankovic and the U23 national football team are finally about to usher in the real debut after the establishment of the team. In September this year, they will also participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games. For Chinese football in the "cold winter", this team represents the future and carries hope.
"We are playing for China, wearing the national team shirt, and the players must have a strong sense of honor. We will choose such players, this team can fight non-stop on the field, will not be afraid of any opponent, show enough aggression, and maintain a high-intensity fight in the whole field. Jankovic said.
Although he has not played in an official match for three years, Jankovic does not worry about the state of the players: "I like to look at football from the positive side. We lost some opportunities to play in high-level international competitions compared to other teams, but we used this time to organize several high-quality training camps, so I don't think my team is less competitive than other teams, I always tell the players to have confidence. ”
Jankovic said that after coming to China, he set himself a lot of goals: "I hope to cultivate a group of competitive players, hope to send more talents to the national team, hope that more young players can play in the Chinese Super League, I am very happy that some of my goals are being achieved." Of course, we are all ultimately for the big goal of the Hangzhou Asian Games. There is only one team in the game that can be the winner, and I want the Chinese team to be the winner. I know chinese football has had a lot of disappointing moments in the past and we want to bring about some change. We hope to defend the home stadium in Hangzhou, just like the Chinese delegation did at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and make all Chinese fans proud of their performances. Jankovic said.