On the morning of January 8, local time, the Chinese team went to Qatar University to participate in the second outdoor training after arriving there. One day later, the team will resume the high training intensity of "two practices a day", and all training content will also be fully based on the technical and tactical arrangements of the group stage of the Asian Cup. It is understood that the Chinese team has now determined 5 captains, they are Wu Xi, Zhang Linpeng, Wu Lei, Jiang Guangtai, Yan Junling, of which Wu Xi is the first captain of the team.
With the arrival of the Chinese team in Doha, Qatar on the 7th local time, the team has officially entered the "Asian Cup time". It is understood that considering that the whole team practiced and warmed up in Abu Dhabi before, the coaching staff did not arrange a large amount of training sessions immediately after the team arrived in Doha. According to the plan, the Chinese team mainly carried out adaptive training such as body activation in the first training in Doha on the evening of the 7th local time, and then conducted relatively simple ball training in the same field on the morning of the 8th.
However, on the 9th, the whole team will resume "two exercises a day". This is because the day was only four days before the opening match of the Asian Cup group stage against Tajikistan, which is actually roughly the same as the interval between the team's group stage matches. Head coach Jankovic needs to arrange the team's training content according to the rhythm of the game from the 9th, so that the players can adjust the game as soon as possible.
Before the Chinese team moved to Doha, the 26-man squad for the Asian Cup had been confirmed. In this national football team with an average age of 29 years old, there are many veterans over the age of 30, who are indispensable backbones of the team both technically and mentally. It is understood that the team's coaching and management team has finalized five captains based on the players' ability, experience, cohesion and other factors. Among them, the first captain is still the nearly 35-year-old veteran Wu Xi. The remaining 4 captains are Zhang Linpeng, Wu Lei, Jiang Guangtai, and Yan Junling.
Among the 5 people, except for the naturalized player Jiang Guangtai, the remaining 4 are all over 30 years old. Zhang Linpeng has played 100 games for the national football team in official matches before this Asian Cup. Wu Lei made 89 appearances and led the team's scorer list with 32 goals. Yan Junling and Jiang Guangtai are also the absolute main force of the current national football team. Whether the Chinese team can perform well during this Asian Cup also depends largely on the performance of the above-mentioned captains.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun