The foreign coach is in trouble, and Jankovic may switch to the national football team

Reporter Chen Yong reports In the work of the Chinese Football Association in the new year, the preparation work of the Chinese national team and national teams of all ages of the Ministry of State Management is very important: on the one hand, Chen Yongliang, director of the State Management Department of the Chinese Football Association, is currently under investigation by discipline inspection and supervision authorities, and the outside world naturally has doubts about the relevant work of the Ministry of State Management; On the other hand, national teams at all levels are generally facing arduous competition tasks this year, and preparations cannot be delayed.

It is gratifying that the work of national teams at all levels is progressing in an orderly manner, as evidenced by the upcoming training of the Olympic team, the U20 national team has now started training in Dubai, completed 5 warm-up matches, and other national teams at all levels are also preparing in an orderly manner.

The news shows that the selection of the national football team has encountered great difficulties, mainly because the current selection direction of foreign coaches with Asian coaching experience is not progressing smoothly, and the national football coach may need to readjust the plan.

 U20 national team completed 5 warm-up games for UAE training On January 16, the U20 national team departed from Chongqing and arrived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates at midnight that day, after a day of training adjustment, on the evening of the 18th local time in the United Arab Emirates, the Chinese U20 national team and the United Arab Emirates U20 national team played the first warm-up match of the UAE training at the United Arab Emirates Football Association training base, the two sides drew 1-1, and Eiffelding helped the U20 national team score; At 5 pm on the 20th, the two sides played the second warm-up, the U20 national team lost 0-1 to the UAE U20 national team, in these two games, the U20 national team used different lineups in the first and second half.

On the 23rd, the U20 national team and the Oman U20 national team played a match, which was the third warm-up match in the UAE, and the two sides drew 1-1, and Eiffelding scored from a free kick; On the 25th, the U20 national team and the Syrian U20 national team played a match, and Hu Hetao scored a goal to help the U20 national team defeat the opponent; On the 28th, in the fifth and final warm-up match of the UAE training camp, the U20 national team once again played against the Syrian U20 national team, losing 1-2 to the opponent, and Baihlamu scored.

The most important task of the U20 national team this year is to play in the U20 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan in March, against Japan on March 3, Saudi Arabia on March 6 and Kyrgyzstan on 9 March. The head coach is Antonio, and the team manager and assistant coach Shao Jiayi.

On February 2, the U20 national team will fly from Dubai to Zagreb, Croatia, for three warm-up matches against the Croatian U20 national team and the Latvia U20 national team.

 The national Olympic team assembled in February and went to Croatia in March to train The U22 national team is the national Olympic team, the head coach is Cheng Yaodong, the competition task is the U23 Asian Cup, the U23 Asian Cup is held in Qatar, due to conflicts with the Asian Cup, the U23 Asian Cup has not yet been determined, it may be at the end of 2023, or it may be in early 2024.

According to the plan, in 2023, the national Olympic team will go to Croatia again for a three-month intensive training, and in 2022, the national Olympic team will conduct 84 days of intensive training and warm-up in Croatia, and achieve very good results, the general opinion is that the players' adaptability to strong confrontation and fast pace is getting better and better, and the personal ability has improved significantly. After overseas training, many players have performed well after returning to the league, such as Abdu Rou Suli, Nguyen Qilong, Duan Zhide, He Longhai and other players have scored.

In addition to the all-round match against Croatia's second division team, the Olympic team will also play five matches against European U21 national teams such as Slovenia U21 and Croatia U21 national team, as well as six warm-up matches with clubs in Belgium and three Belgian leagues such as Standard Liège. The team will then return to China and plan to participate in the Panda Cup International Invitational Tournament.

 The U17 national team has been concentrated, and will go to Spain to train in March On January 19, the U17 national team led by Yang Chen ended the first training of 2023 in Yuxi for 17 days, and on January 29, the team regrouped in Zhuhai, and the team plans to play three warm-up matches with the Uzbekistan U17 national team on February 27, March 1 and 3, and the matches are still being finalized.

According to the plan, the U17 national team will travel to Spain from March 10 to April 10 to play against the 2006 team of Spain's first division of honor league, and then return to China for intensive training. From mid-May to early June, the U17 national team plans to travel to Japan for training, with four or five warm-up matches planned.

On June 17, 2023, the U17 Asian Cup will be held in Thailand, and the grouping of the U17 national team has not yet been determined.

 U24 national team/Asian Games team to assemble to prepare for the Asian Games The U24 national team, the 1999 age group national team, is coached by Jankovic, and the goal is to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games. According to the plan, the Asian Games team will gather in Foshan on February 4, and in mid-February, the team plans to travel to Dubai for a month of training, during which about 10 warm-up matches will be played. The Asian Games team will then travel to New Zealand for warm-up matches, facing the New Zealand U23 national team on March 23 and 26. Subsequently, the Asian Games players returned to China to participate in the Chinese Super League.

 Train elite coaches, select and form U18 national teams From January 17 to 19, 2023, the Chinese Football Association conducted the first phase of elite coach training, according to the plan, the Ministry of State Management will organize the second phase of training in March, and combined with the 2005/2006 age group youth tournament (youth championship) held in February, on-site inspection and selection of players to form the 2005 age group selection team, on this basis, the Chinese Football Association will officially establish the 2005 age group national team this year. That is, the U18 national team.

According to the plan, the formation of relevant national teams or selection teams for the 2007 and 2008 age groups will also be launched this year.

 Chinese women's football team has multiple tasks and starts training early The Chinese women's football team held the first training camp in Haikou in 2023 before the Spring Festival, and on January 26, the Chinese women's football team gathered again in Guangzhou, which is the second training camp of the Chinese women's football team in 2023. On January 20, the Chinese women's football team announced the match plan for Spain's overseas training: on February 14, the Chinese women's football team VS the Spanish Real Betis women's football team; On February 16, China Women's Football VS Sweden Women's Football Team; On February 19, China women's football team VS Spain Atlético Vival women's football team; On February 22, China Women's Football VS Ireland Women's Football Team.

Chinese women's football coach Shui Qingxia said that this year's competition is very heavy, and the training requirements will be stricter than before. The coaching staff and players trust each other and achieve a unified goal. We will be well prepared and give our all to play every game. 2023 can be described as a competition year for Chinese women's football: from July 20 to August 20, the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September, and the women's qualifiers for the Paris Olympics starting in October.

The U20 women's football team and the U17 women's football team held intensive training in Kunming before the Spring Festival. After the Spring Festival, U20 head coach Wang Junjiang will lead the team to Laos in March for the first stage of the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers, which will be held in June. The U17 women's football team has been directly shortlisted for the 2024 U17 Women's Asian Cup and is scheduled to travel to Europe in March, with Lu Yiliang as the head coach.

The work of national teams at all levels is advancing in an orderly manner, and the selection of the Chinese national team is in trouble. At present, the Chinese Football Association is evaluating other selection options.

The selection of the national team coach was put on the agenda in November 2022, with the first three options being a new foreign head coach, Jankovic as the head coach of the national team and the national Olympic team, and Li Xiaopeng remaining as the head coach of the national team.

Among them, the main basis for Li Xiaopeng to remain as the manager of the national team is that Li Xiaopeng's coaching of the national football team is an emergency and does not reflect his real coaching ability, but this option is not the first choice of the Football Association; Subsequently, Jankovic's plan to be the head coach of the national team and the national Olympic team was quickly abandoned because of the fact that single-mindedness is not necessarily successful, dual-use is more likely to be problematic, and there will be a linkage effect between each other, Horton and Dujkovic are examples of the past.

In this case, the selection of a new foreign manager has become the focus of the FA's work, in view of the national team to participate in the 2026 World Cup Qualifying Round of 36 in November this year, the time is tight and the task is urgent, so the criteria for selecting the coach is to be familiar with Chinese football, familiar with Asian football, especially West Asian football is preferred, and then the Chinese Football Association quickly contacted several target candidates. Sadly, several of the targets were also being pursued by other Asian national teams, and their interest in coaching the Chinese national team did not seem to be too high, and the related communication quickly got bogged down.

As a result, the selection of the Chinese national team may have to readjust the plan, which is currently no more than the following three: first, still choose a new foreign head coach, but no longer limited to familiarity with Asian football; Second, Jankovic became the head coach of the national team, stepped down as the head coach of the U24 national team, and the Chinese Football Association re-selected the head coach of the U24 national team, because the task of the U24 national team is only the Asian Games competition; Third, Li Xiaopeng remained as the head coach of the national team.

At present, the Chinese Football Association is evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of various plans, among which Jankovic stepping down as the head coach of the U24 national team as the head coach of the national team, and Li Xiaopeng remaining as the head coach of the national team can be implemented immediately, and it will take a while to choose a new foreign head coach. So far, the Chinese Football Association has not made a final decision.