The national football team welcomes the first match of the Asian Cup tonight: it is necessary to control actions and emotions, and prepare for the long stoppage time
On January 12, local time, the 2023 Asian Cup has officially ignited in Qatar, and after a 20-minute wonderful opening ceremony, the host Qatar team defeated the Lebanese team 3-0 and won the opening match. At the Lusail Stadium, FIFA President Gianni Infantino watched the game, and Song Kai, president of the Chinese Football Association, also came to watch the opening match - official data showed that the opening game of this Asian Cup reached 82,490 spectators. At 10:30 Beijing time tonight, the national football team will welcome the first opponent of the Asian Cup, Tajikistan.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Chinese Football Association President Song Kai watched the opening match live according to IC photo
Despite losing 3-0 to Qatar in the opening game, Lebanese coach Radulovic said in his post-match press conference that the team could still get six points in the group stage and advance to the knockout round. Speaking about the upcoming matches, he said: "We are in a group full of strong players, we will prepare well, and the next game is in five days' time, and we have a lot of respect for the Chinese team. ”
Respectful words, but Radulovic believes that Lebanon can beat China, "We have very limited time to prepare for the Asian Cup, but we did well tonight and I hope to do better in the next game." The group was full of strong opponents, I have a lot of respect for the Chinese team, and I will watch them play against Tajikistan, and I believe we can get six points at the end and advance to the knockout rounds. "On the evening of January 17, the Lebanese team will usher in the second match of the group, against the national football team.
Tonight's Asian Cup national football team's first match against Tajikistan will be officiated by Saudi referee Al-Huvesh.
Referee: Mohammed Khled Al-Hoish (Saudi Arabia)
First Assistant Referee: Khalaf Zaid Al-Shammari (Saudi Arabia)
Second Assistant Referee: Yasir Abdullah Al-Sultan (Saudi Arabia)
Fourth official: Muhammad Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Mohamad Zairul (Malaysia)
Video Assistant Referee: Khalid Saleh Al-Turais (Saudi Arabia)
Video Assistant Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait)
The 37-year-old officiated the semi-finals of the Under-20 World Junior Championships and Club World Cup last year, and in 2017 he officiated Tajikistan in an Asian Cup qualifier against Nepal, which they won 2-1.
In the group stage of the 2021 AFC Champions League, he officiated two matches of Beijing Guoan. In addition, he has served as a referee for club matches such as the 2023 AFC Champions League Daegu 5-0 Guoan, Kawasaki 4-0 Guoan, and the 2023 AFC Champions League Johor 5-0 Guangzhou. But so far, he has never officiated the national football team. The national football team faces the tough Tajikistan team tonight, and must control their actions and emotions, and must reduce the risk of cards, so as not to be passive due to possible numerical disadvantage.
The Chinese team prepares for training according to IC photo
In the opening match of this Asian Cup, the injury time was as long as 10 minutes. Therefore, at half past 10 o'clock tonight, the national football team against the Tajikistan team may still face the test of "super long stoppage time".
Nowadays, a trend in world football is super long stoppage time, and West Asian football, especially the leagues of countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other countries, are also "super long stoppage time", a game that was originally 90 minutes, now more than 100 minutes is the norm. However, the Chinese Super League is still still generally 1 to 2 minutes of stoppage time in the first half, 4 or 5 minutes of stoppage time in the second half, and there have been 8 or 9 minutes of stoppage time in very few games.
In September last year, when Wuhan Three Towns made their first home appearance against Urawa Red Diamonds in the group stage of the AFC Champions League, the Three Towns team suffered a 10-minute injury time when it was in a good situation, but due to serious physical overdraft, it was drawn by the opponent in the fifth minute of injury time. And in this morning's game, Qatar scored a goal in the 95th minute to lock the score at 3-0.
Under this trend, the physical reserves of the national football players may become an important factor affecting their final results in this Asian Cup.
In the face of this encounter with the Tajikistan team, if the national football team can make a good start to this Cup, the significance is self-evident. But as the national football coach Jankovic said, even if you don't win, it doesn't mean that the team will be eliminated, the important thing is to play your own football.
Edited by Ou Peng