With the arrival of 2024, the countdown to the opening of the Asian Cup has officially begun. In order to play well in this competition, the Chinese men's football team played a warm-up match with the Omani team not long ago, and finally the Chinese team lost 0-2 to the opponent. Although he failed to win the game, the coach of the Oman team, Ivankovic, still gave the national football team high praise, and the Serbian coach also believes that with the current state of the national football team, it is not a problem to qualify from the group at all!
Because he has coached Shandong Taishan for two years at the Chinese Super League giant, Ivankovic also has a certain degree of understanding of Chinese football. Talking about the warm-up match with the national football team, Ivankovic said: "The league in Oman is not as high as the level of the Chinese Super League, so it is very important for us to prepare for the Asian Cup by playing a warm-up match with an Asian strong team like China. Compared with two years ago, the Chinese team has become more motivated, strengthened a lot, and has a significantly more serious attitude towards the game. ”
Ivankovic also said: "It may be that the last time the two teams met in the round of 12, the Chinese team had no hope of qualifying, and the team did not seem to have any fighting spirit, plus the Chinese Super League had not yet opened at that time, and the players were not in the best condition in all aspects, so the loss was not surprising." But now the situation of this Chinese team is completely different, and with their current form, I think the Chinese team can at least finish in the top two of the group and enter the next stage!"
And the players of the national football team are also full of confidence in the upcoming Asian Cup. Not long ago, on behalf of the national football team, the goalkeeper Wang Dalei who started against Oman and played the whole game, accepted an interview with Ma Dexing, a reporter from the "Sports Weekly", in which Wang Dalei said: "For the Asian Cup, I hope the Chinese team can go further and further, and it is best not to go home for the New Year!" In this Asian Cup, only when the final is reached, will it cross China's Lunar New Year, that is to say, in the hearts of many international players, there is also a dream of winning the Asian Cup!
In this Asian Cup, the Chinese team was placed in Group A, which included Qatar, Tajikistan and Lebanon. In addition to the top two teams in each group who can qualify, the four best group thirds can also successfully break through and enter the knockout round. Therefore, as long as it plays normally, it should not be a problem for the Chinese team to qualify, and the real test will not come until the knockout round. If we upset and win the group, then in the next quarter-finals, we will probably face Vietnam, Palestine or Malaysia. If we finish second in the group, we will most likely face the UAE, but if we finish third in the group, we will have to meet Iran or Australia.
Bless the Chinese men's football team, I hope they can replicate the miracle of the Chinese women's football team, and reach the top of Asia for the first time in team history!