The future plan of the national football team: at the end of August, it will focus on the Asian strong team, and the main lineup will be determined in the mock exam of the World Preliminary Round
With the national football team's 2-0 victory over the Palestinian team on the evening of the 20th to win two consecutive victories, the current session of the Chinese men's football team's training in Dalian came to an end, and the prelude to the next stage of the team's preparation also quietly began. According to the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily, after returning to Beijing on the 21st, the national football coaching staff with Jankovic as the main coach will summarize the current training and two warm-up games, and then continue to travel to the Chinese Super League to inspect international footballers. The team is scheduled to regroup at the end of August, after the end of the second phase (round 24) of the Chinese Super League, followed by international warm-up matches against two relatively strong opponents. At that time, a national football team closer to the 2026 World Preliminary Round of 36 squad will appear in the fans' vision.
Late on the night of the 20th, the national football general had dinner at the resident hotel with a happy mood. For the national football team, which has been in a downturn for more than one year, the two consecutive wins obtained in this Dalian training are like Ganlin after a long drought, which has encouraged the whole team. Li Yingfa, who went to Dalian Barracuda Bay Stadium to watch the warm-up match between China and Pakistan, also gave a high evaluation of the team's mental outlook and coach Jankovic's pragmatic formation.
Like Li Yingfa, football professionals, media people, and representatives of fan organizations who went to watch the game also believed that the outstanding impression of this team was that it had a good style, which was also an important prerequisite for being good at fighting tough battles. In the two matches, except for Wang Shenchao and Wei Zhen, who missed most of the training and two games due to health reasons, only the substitute goalkeeper Liu Dian Zuo and the substitute right-back of the other 21 players will not be given the opportunity to play tomorrow. That is, 19 players appeared in two games in succession. From the perspective of the game process, whether they started or came off the bench, they basically completed the tactical tasks assigned by the coaches.
Jankovic, who has coached the men's Asian Games team (1999 age group) for the past four years, has not given up on promoting young players after officially taking over the national team in March this year. So in the two training and warm-up matches in March and June, newcomers such as Lin Liangming and Chen Pu joined the national football team. In the case that Zhang Yuning, Tan Long, Barton and other attackers were temporarily unable to join the team for various reasons, Lin Liangming seized the opportunity and became a "sharp weapon" on the national football wing attacking line, able to score goals or instigate attacks in two warm-up games, Lin Liangming basically locked the position of a winger or main full-back of this national football team.
In the process of promoting the team's rejuvenation, Jankovic's team did not ignore the rationality of the age structure of the whole team. In the two warm-up matches in June, the main players of the last World Preliminary Round of the national football team, represented by Yan Junling, Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Guangtai, Wu Lei and Axon, still played a pivotal role in all lines. For example, Wu Lei scored 3 goals in two games, still the most trusted "sharp knife" in the national football front, Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Guangtai as defenders have used goals to make contributions to the team, the national football team to impact the 2026 World Preliminary Round and the 2023 Asian Cup, "thirty and beautiful" their role in the whole team, especially young players, is indispensable.
In the eyes of some industry insiders, Jankovic has a unique perspective at the technical and tactical level, and the execution is also relatively resolute, and the national football team can win the last two warm-up games, to a certain extent, thanks to his persistence. As one insider commented, "If you practice something that doesn't have to be in the game, then it's a waste of time and resources." Jankovic's resolute use of troops actually led the team members to be resolute in implementing tactics. ”
It is worth noting that if it were not for the injury of midfield core Wu Xi, wing attacker Wei Shihao and full-back Deng Hanwen, then the adjustment of the Chinese team's training and warm-up lineup this month would have been further reduced. On the other hand, Yankovic has always adhered to the principle of "employing people without doubt, doubting people without using them" in the draft, and not easily swaying. The relatively stable personnel construction has actually improved the efficiency of Yankovic's implementation of technical and tactical play and the adaptation of players to the tactical ideas of coaches. This is evidenced by the warm-up matches between China and Myanmar and China-Pakistan, and the national football team has repeatedly created good opportunities to score goals through classic cooperation.
According to the plan, after leaving Dalian on the 21st, the national football coach and management team will be put into a new round of preparation work. After returning to Beijing, Jankovic will summarize all aspects of this training and competition, and implement the next step of coaching. According to the plan, the national football team will start a new training session as early as August 28, the second day after the end of the second phase (round 24) of the Chinese Super League, followed by two more international A warm-up matches in the international day cycle from September 4 to 12. If nothing else, the national football team will warm up with two strong teams from Asia during this period, because the second stage of the Asian zone of the 2026 World Qualifiers, the first two rounds of the round of 36, will be held in November, and the Chinese team needs to grind and finalize the main squad for this competition and the 2023 Asian Cup as soon as possible in the two training sessions in September and October. At that time, the national football team participating in September training will be closer to the World Preliminary Tournament preparation lineup.
With most of the main players largely in place, Jankovic will further assess the quality and form of the internationals by looking at the Chinese Super League in July and August. The warm-up match in September is actually an important mock test before the national football team participates in the 2026 World Preliminary Tournament. At that time, the competition within the national football team will be more intense, and this is what Jankovic is looking forward to.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao