The National Olympic Games recruited 5 new faces: audition for the back midfield, and the post-05 forward twin stars were investigated

The Chinese Football Association announced on November 9 the latest 2001 U22 National Olympic Team 31 training list, the most eye-catching of which is undoubtedly the original 2003 U20 National Youth Team three midfielders and from the Shenzhen team two 05, 06 age group players joined, which also means that the National Olympic team will reopen the door to inspection.

(1) The core framework has not changed

In October, during the FIFA-designated national team competition window, the national Olympic team organized a training camp. However, the Chinese League was not suspended at that time, and in order to ensure that each team could participate in the competition with a full lineup, the coaching staff only recruited players from Chinese Super League clubs to train in Xianghe, and also recruited individual players such as Xiang Yuwang during the period. Now that the domestic three-level professional league has ended, only Wuhan Three Towns, Shandong Taishan and Zhejiang FC are left to play in the AFC Champions League, so the coaching staff has called all the players needed into the team this time.

Judging from the list of 31 people this time, among the 23 people who participated in the Olympic qualifiers in September this year, except for Wang Bowen, who played overseas, Abdul Suli, Wang Yu and center Fernando, the other 19 people were all selected. The overall framework of the national Olympic team has not changed much, after all, after more than three years of teaming, all the players of the right age (2001 and 2002 age groups) who can be called into the team have almost been screened by the coaching staff, and there is no "missing pearl".

To the relief of the coaching staff, Ruan Qilong, a central defender from Beijing Guoan, has finally returned from injury and can participate in normal training, and the defense of the National Olympic team will be effectively strengthened. Nguyen has always been one of the most important players in the backline, making the most appearances and minutes during Croatia's training in the second half of 2022. Ahead of Croatia's training in March, the Olympic team had planned to send him to Europe but the club made it clear they would focus on using him for the 2023 season. However, before the start of the season, Nguyen Qilong was seriously injured and missed the entire season, so he unfortunately missed the Olympic preliminaries in September this year.

Leng Jixuan, a striker who also played for the Guoan team and joined Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in the 2023 season, was also re-called this time. Like Ruan Qilong, Leng Jixuan actually represented the then U20 national youth team in the Chinese Second League as early as the 2021 season, but gradually faded out of sight because of his average performance. Leng Jixuan didn't have many opportunities in Guoan, and after joining Tianjin, he only had a pitiful 4 appearances in the past season, and the cumulative playing time was less than a 90-minute game. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether Leng Jixuan can impress the coaching staff with his performance when he participates in the training camp of the National Olympic team this time.

In addition to the aforementioned Abdul Suli and Wang Yu, the regulars in the previous National Olympic team such as He Longhai and Liang Weipeng were also not selected for this training camp, but this does not mean that the door of the National Olympic team has been closed to them, but the coaching staff has summoned other newcomers to inspect their positions. If these new faces fail to impress the coaching staff, they will also be back in the team.

(2) The "No. 6" player is the focus

It is worth noting that the five new players who have been called up this time are all players from the 2003 age group or later, and the three former Under-20 players are all playing in the "No. 6 position". In other words, the coaching staff will focus on finding a more ideal defensive midfielder.

In fact, this position has been the weakest link since the 2001 age group team was first formed in the national youth team. In the original era of the Frenchman Gonfaron, Nabijiang was once arranged to play this position. After Cheng Yaodong took over, Zheng Xuejian, Liang Weipeng, Abraham Khalik, Jia Feifei, Zhu Qiwen and many other players were also tried in this position, and at the last moment before the Olympic preliminaries, Wang Yu of the Dalian team was even temporarily called into the team. But except for Wang Yu, who is a purely defensive player and is considered to be the main midfielder, others seem to be more suitable for the No. 8 position.

Because of this, Xu Bin, Chen Zhexuan and Bao Shengxin, who were originally from the U20 national youth team in 2003, were all called into the national Olympic team, and they served as defensive midfielders under Spanish coach Antonio, only Bao Shengxin was more inclined to the No. 8 position. In fact, in the last training camp, the National Olympic team temporarily summoned Xiang Yuwang of the Chongqing Tongliang Dragons into the team, which was actually for this position. Xiang Yu Wang is also a midfielder in the 2003 age group, but he is more of a playmaker. In the warm-up match between the National Olympic team and Beijing Guoan, Xiang Yu Wang also helped the National Olympic team score.

In addition, the two "skipping students" from the Shenzhen team, Du Yuezheng born in 2005 and Xia Hezati born in 2006, are also eye-catching. The former began playing in the Chinese Super League last year when South Korean Lee Jang-so was in charge of the Shenzhen team, and this year has played 26 games in 30 rounds, accumulating more than 1,340 minutes, even longer than many of the main players in the current Olympic team in the Chinese Super League. Although Xia Hezati has made 24 appearances, he has accumulated more than 1,400 minutes. Although the fact that Shenzhen gave so much playing time to the two youngsters was related to the club's financial constraints and inability to bring in better players, it was a valuable asset for the development of young players. In this case, the national Olympic team called these two people into the team, in fact, it also hopes to give more impact to the existing players.

According to the arrangement, the national Olympic team is scheduled to start training at the Shanghai Oriental Luzhou Sports Training Base on the 11th of this month, and will go to Jinjiang, Fujian Province about a week later to participate in two warm-up matches with the Tajik National Olympic team on November 19 and 22. However, after playing these two warm-up games, the national Olympic team will not be disbanded immediately, but will continue to move to Zhejiang, and will only be disbanded after two warm-up matches with Zhejiang FC, which is preparing for the AFC Champions League. After that, the national Olympic team will organize a special winter training to continue to prepare for the Olympic preliminaries.