The "naturalization tide" has receded, can the national football team make a good start for 2024 in the Asian Cup?

In order to prepare for the Qatar Asian Cup in January next year, the national football team recently flew to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates for training. In the upcoming 2023, Chinese football can be said to be a chicken feather. In this Asian Cup, can the national football team get off to a good start for 2024?

Wang Dalei's third

"The third time I went to the Asian Cup, I must cheer. When embarking on an overseas training trip with the national football team, Wang Dalei, the goalkeeper of the Taishan team, encouraged himself on social media. Time has passed, Wang Dalei, who was born in 1989, has become a veteran of the three dynasties of the national football team in the Asian Cup. In Qatar early next year, Wang Dalei will celebrate his 35th birthday.

On January 10, 2015, Wang Dalei's 26th birthday, the national football team ushered in the first game of the group stage of the Asian Cup in Australia. In the cheers of tens of thousands of Chinese fans at Brisbane Stadium, the national football team defeated the powerful Saudi Arabian team 1-0 and got off to a good start. In the 60th minute of the game, Wang Dalei saved the opponent's penalty. That key save also laid the foundation for the final victory of the national football team. Many years later, many people still remember Wang Dalei's highlight performance in that Asian Cup.

This fall, Huang Jianxiang, a well-known sports commentator, wrote on social media: "In the 2015 Asian Cup, the Chinese team won three consecutive group games to enter the quarterfinals, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to have the glory of the competition in many years." Many people only remember this result, but forget that the Chinese team is likely to lose to Saudi Arabia in the first game and start a nightmare journey, it was Wang Dalei who saved a penalty kick from the opponent, and then Yu Hai's goal was later, and he won the first game 1-0, and since then the team's morale has been greatly boosted, and the more they play, the better they are......" Huang Jianxiang said, in his mind, Wang Dalei is "the best goalkeeper we have ever had in the past 15 years."

In Wang Dalei's previous two Asian Cup trips, the national football team successfully advanced to the top 8. This time, will Serbian coach Jankovic's national football team be able to continue this record, and will the beginning of Chinese football in 2024 be bitter or sweet?

The "tide of naturalization" receded

When the national football team started training in Abu Dhabi, naturalized striker Ackerson was enjoying his vacation in El Salvador. As he grew older, his form inevitably declined. In the 2023 Chinese Super League season, Ackerson played 27 games for Chengdu Rongcheng, contributing 8 goals and 1 assist. Even though the national football team is facing the problem of insufficient strikers, Jankovic did not select Exxon into the latest training list of the national football team.

Li Ke, a naturalized player who appeared in the national football training list, is no longer in the national football team.

On December 20, the Chinese Football Association officially announced that the national football team recruited Shanghai Port midfielder Xu Xin. The move of the national football team is to replace Li Ke who left the team with Xu Xin. Li Ke's departure from the team also caused a lot of rumors in the market, and some self-media even broke the news that Li Ke was abandoned because of a conflict with Wu Lei. Wu Lei, who was one of the protagonists of the rumors, even had to come forward in person to clarify. According to sources, the real reason for Li Ke's departure was being late for the team's first training session after arriving in Abu Dhabi. Jankovic was strict in discipline and "cut the horse with tears".

In the squad of the national football team for the Qatar Asian Cup, there is a high probability that there will be only one naturalized player, Jiang Guangtai. The "tide of naturalization," which was once quite vigorous, has receded.

Before the group stage of the Asian Cup, Jankovic hopes to arrange four warm-up matches to adjust the team's form. So far, the national football team has finalized two warm-up opponents. According to the plan, on December 25, the national football team warmed up with the regional sports teams of the UAE second division, and on December 29, the national football team will play against the Oman team. The latest news shows that the opponent of the third warm-up match of the national football team will be the Hong Kong team. According to media reports, the Hong Kong team will arrive in Abu Dhabi on December 27 to start preparations for the Asian Cup. In an interview with the media, Hong Kong, China's head coach Anderson confirmed that the team will warm up with the national football team on January 1, 2024. The opponent of the fourth warm-up match of the national football team is still being implemented.

The opponent changed the coach on the spot

Before leading the team, Jankovic talked about the team's goal of participating in the Asian Cup, and said cautiously: "As a coach, my judgment criterion is whether the team can play the technical and tactical requirements and whether it can show a good mental outlook on the field, just like the performance in the World Preliminary Tournament in November. It's important for a team to be ambitious so that we can stay awake and come into the game with the same attitude as before. My goal is only to play the first game against Tajikistan and get the details right and try to be the best. ”

According to the schedule, the first match of the group stage between the national football team and the Tajikistan team will start on January 13, 2024, Beijing time. On January 17 and 22, 2024, the national football team will play against Lebanon and the host Qatar team respectively. There are six groups in the Qatar Asian Cup, with the top two teams in each group and the four best third-placed teams advancing to the round of 16.

Among the three opponents in the group stage of the national football team, the Qatar team and the Lebanese team have just completed the "extreme operation" of changing the coach. On December 6, the Qatar Football Association officially announced that Portuguese coach Queiroz was leaving. Queiroz's successor is Spanish coach Marquez López. Marquez López has been coaching in the Qatar league for the past five seasons. He has a very clear understanding of Qatari football. On December 9, the Lebanese Football Federation officially announced the change of coach, due to the team's poor performance in the round of 36 of the World Preliminary Championships, the former head coach Yursevic was dismissed, and Montenegrin coach Miodrag Radulovic returned. Radulovic was in charge of Lebanon from 2015 to 2019 and led the team to a record 16 consecutive international matches. On December 19, Lebanese local time, the Lebanese team assembled in Tripoli to start preparations for the Asian Cup. Speaking to the internationals, Radulovic said: "I came back because I know and understand the potential that people have. I'm confident that we can relive the glory of the past together, and I'm proud of that. "The change of coaches of these two teams has also objectively brought more tests to the national football team's targeted preparations.

A few days ago, former international player Jia Xiuquan has received an official invitation from the AFC. The AFC wanted the 1984 Asian Cup MVP winner in Singapore to be in attendance for the final of the Asian Cup in Qatar. That year, Jia Xiuquan helped the national football team win the runner-up in the Asian Cup. But for today's Chinese football, it is destined to have a long way to go if it wants to regain its former glory.

Reporter: Yao Zheng Editor: Li Fujie Photography: Sun Changqing Proofreader: Gao Xin