On January 8th, a new week begins. This week, the much-watched Qatar Asian Cup will officially start at 19:00 local time on January 12 (Friday) in Doha (0:00 Beijing time on January 13). After the opening match between Qatar and Lebanon, the host country in Group A, at 22:30 Beijing time on the 13th, the Chinese team in the same group will face Tajikistan.
This Asian Cup was supposed to be held in China, but later due to various reasons, it was replaced by Qatar, and the time was adjusted from 2023 to early 2024. According to the competition regulations, a total of 24 teams entered the final stage of this Asian Cup. The 24 teams were divided into 6 groups A, B, C, D, E, and F after being drawn in groups, with 4 teams in each group. The top 2 teams in the group and the 3rd place team in the 4 best groups will advance to the round of 16.
The Chinese team, ranked 11th in Asia, must play three games in the group stage if they want to advance to the round of 16. Among them, against Qatar, which is ranked 6th in Asia and is also the host, it is obviously not very likely to win. However, against Tajikistan and Lebanon, who are ranked lower than them, they must go all out to win, at least to ensure that they stay in the top three of the group, and to get as many goal difference as possible to have an advantage when they need to compare the goal difference with the other group third places. In a sense, the first game of the national football team against Tajikistan is a game that cannot be lost, which can be called a battle of life and death.
It is worth mentioning that judging from the previous warm-up performance, it was also against Hong Kong, China, the national football team lost 1-2 to the opponent, and Tajikistan won 2-1. In other words, if Hong Kong, China is used as a reference, it is not easy for the national football team to score all three points against Tajikistan. Presumably, the national football coach Jankovic and his disciples already know it and are ready to fight a tough battle.
Recently, the national football team trained and prepared in the United Arab Emirates, and played 4 warm-up matches, and achieved a record of 2 wins and 2 losses, that is, first with Lin Liangming's brace, as well as Zhang Yuning, Wu Lei, Jiang Shenglong's goals, defeated the UAE B team Regional Sports 5-1, and then defeated 0-2 to rank 10th in Asia, Oman, who is in Group F of this Asian Cup, then lost 1-2 to Hong Kong, China when Tan Long scored the first goal, and then, in the last warm-up game before the Asian Cup, relying on Zhang Yuning's hat trick and goals from Li Lei, Wei Shihao and Wu Lei, they defeated the UAE Gulf Heroes 6-2.
Judging from the warm-up matches, the national football team has mixed joys and worries, the good news is that Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning, Wei Shihao, Tan Long and other shooters have scored; Of course, the warm-up matches don't say much, everything is still to be tested.
According to the arrangement, the national football team has flown to Doha on the evening of January 7, Beijing time, and officially moved into the competition area. At 17:30 local time (22:30 Beijing time), head coach Jankovic led the whole team to the official training ground of Qatar University for the first training session after arriving in Doha. Judging from the footage from the training site, the state of Wu Lei, Wei Shihao and other international players has been maintained well. At 22:30 on January 13 (Saturday), Beijing time, the national football team will usher in the first match of this Asian Cup with Tajikistan. Expect them to do well.
According to the information released by the Football News, after the national football team arrives in Doha, in addition to normal training, it will also watch CCTV's recently popular anti-corruption documentary "Continue to Promote in Depth" on the evening of January 9, Beijing time. In the fourth and final episode broadcast that night, Li Tie, the former coach of the national football team, as well as Chen Xuyuan, Du Zhaocai, and others, the former senior executives of the Chinese Football Association, will face the camera and repent and play a role in warning education.
As of 11:00 on January 8, CCTV's weekly program list has not yet appeared in the broadcast information of this Asian Cup. If nothing else, in recent days, CCTV will make adjustments and release broadcast arrangements including national football matches.