Revealing the new coach of the Asian Games team: Dai Weijun Wang Haijian may become key figures

At 15 pm local time in New Zealand (10 am Beijing time) on March 23, the Chinese 99-year-old U24 Asian Games team will take the lead in playing the New Zealand U22 Olympic Team at Smart Mountain Stadium in Auckland for the "mat match" of the China-Singapore national team battle. This will be the first time that the U24 Asian Games team has officially participated in an international competition between national teams since the change of coach, how will it change under the command of new head coach Jurjevic? What kind of lineup and tactics will the team use in front of Chinese fans? These are also the areas that reporters focused on after coming to New Zealand. Judging from the current situation, the Asian Games team may not have changed a lot under the command of the new coach.

(1) Formation change: 433 becomes 4411

The first two warm-up matches (against the United Arab Emirates U21 team and against the third-division United Sports team) used the 433 basic formation used by Jankovic when leading the team, and the attack and defense were constantly switched between 343 and 433 in actual combat. However, starting with the Ahal team in Turkmenistan, Gyurjevic changed the basic formation to 442. Of course, such a change may be based on player injuries, or it may be based on Djurjevic's gradual understanding of the team and players.

By observing the training in the last two days, it may be more appropriate to position the Asian Games team's formation as 4411. The biggest change is that the players behind the center or on the wing are not the attacking players with stronger wing attributes such as Tao Qianglong and Chen Guokang in the past, but Dai Weijun and Wang Haijian, two players who play more as midfielders under Jankovic. Wang Haijian only joined the team for the first time in Foshan training in February, and he played more as a back in the 4231 formation, or one of the two central midfielders in the 442 formation, or on the side of the defensive midfield in the 433 formation, shouldering the task of organizing and inserting attacks. The same is true for Dai Weijun, especially in the 433 formation, where he is responsible for passing the ball forward or breaking through with the ball in midfield.

But in the training after arriving in Auckland, especially in the all-team confrontation practice on the afternoon of March 20, whether it was Wang Haijian or Dai Weijun, the position was arranged behind the center of the two teams. In the squad confrontation, both teams start with a position of 442, but as the confrontation progresses, the position of the players on the field is more like 4411. The center of Dai Weijun's side is Zhang Wei, and he ambushes the position behind Zhang Wei; The center of the other side is Fang Hao, and Wang Haijian is further back. As Dai Weijun said in an interview with reporters before, "Now he is more like a 'shadow forward'".

Unlike in Jankovic's tactical system, more forward insertion, in Gyurjevic's tactical system, Dai Weijun and Wang Haijian will take the initiative to retreat and then move forward, while one of the four midfielders, one of the two players in the center will also insert more forward, cross-transposing with Wang Haijian or Dai Weijun. This style of play can often be seen in squad confrontations. Such a deployment is a very obvious change from the offensive requirements of the Yankovic era.

(2) Offensive changes: from the wing to the center

Jankovic directs the team to take the initiative and high pressure, and requires the players to run at all costs, using running to make up for the team's lack of technical and tactical ability. In attack, he also prefers to make a fuss on the wing, even in the absence of fulcrum center Shan Huanhuan, Jankovic uses the "small man" tactic, allowing the wide player to break through and then seek a breakthrough or penetration from the ribs.

But after watching Gyurjevic's training session, especially the offensive routine drill on the evening of the 19th, the reporter noticed that although he also prefers to seek breakthroughs through the wing, it is completely different from Jankovic's requirements: when the Asian Games team breaks through from the wing, it is not simply crossed and the shot is outflanked by the central player, but hopes to be able to form a fit in the ribs and then penetrate in, or transfer from one side to the other, making full use of the width of the court and then trying to form a match from the ribs to score. When the team switched from defense to attack, although Jurjevic's requirements emphasized the word "fast" like Jankovic, it was no longer the first to find a breakthrough from the wing, but first in the middle, hoping to cooperate and score.

Of course, whether this change can work can only be tested by actual combat, after all, in the last few warm-up matches in the UAE, the opponent as a whole is not very strong. Just like when the national youth team played in the U20 Asian Cup, no one was optimistic about the simple tactics and routines of the national youth team under Antonio, but this style of play was very effective in actual combat. Now Gyurjevic hopes to be able to cooperate more and pass control, this kind of requirements and ideas are no problem, but the effect depends on the actual battle.

Changes on the offensive end have also led to some changes in the way players play in the game. For example, the two fullbacks are no longer simply taking the ball forward to break through, but more oblique, inward, and even directly complete the shot in the process of running. When cutting inside or diagonally, the gap area left behind is filled by the full-backs behind him, or even pressing further forward to open up the opposing wing defenders and create more open opportunities for teammates. The change in the style of full-back has also led to changes in the selection of full-backs. In the Yankovic era, He Yupeng, who often played the right wingback in the 433 or 4231 formation, and He Yupeng, who retreated to become a wingback when defending, was directly assigned to the right-back position under Gyurjevic, and the main responsibility became to defend first and then assist forward, which was a fundamental change from the Yankovic era's requirement to attack first and then assist in defense.

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After the Asian Games team changes coaches, even if Jurjevic has a close relationship with Jankovic, I am afraid that he will not completely copy the tactical requirements of his predecessor, after all, each coach has his own independent thinking and different understanding of football, which determines that the Asian Games team can no longer fully follow the technical and tactical requirements of the Yankovic era. Therefore, the two matches against the New Zealand Olympic team will allow Jurjevic to test whether his ideas are feasible and how to deal with them next through a warm-up match at a higher level. After all, there is not much time left before the Hangzhou Asian Games, leaving him even less time to transform the team.

After the Asian Games team arrived in New Zealand, the overall state of the players and the team atmosphere showed a positive attitude, which also showed that the team did not have resistance due to the change of coach, and even made the team full of competition again. With two days left before the China-Singapore battle, what kind of answers will the Asian Games team and Jurjevic hand over?