After about seven and a half hours of flight, the flight carrying the Chinese men's football team flew from Doha, Qatar to Beijing, and then the international players went to various places to meet their respective clubs to prepare for the new season of the Chinese Super League. The staff of the Chinese Football Association who went to the front line of the Asian Cup will also immediately devote themselves to the preparations for a new round of team reconstruction. Judging from the current situation, the Chinese Football Association will most likely change the coach for the national football team. However, the selection of a coach is not as simple as the rumours of a hasty selection of some current Chinese Super League team managers, but a careful decision needs to be made by taking into account various factors including the coaching ability, experience and understanding of Chinese and Asian football. It is understood that Jankovic's annual salary standard is about 1.2 million euros, and the Chinese Football Association will strictly consider the price factor in the process of selecting a coach, and will not chase the so-called famous coach regardless of the cost.
Since it is less than 2 months before the start of the team's next training camp, and the change of coach needs to go through collective discussion and strict procedures, the time and space left for the Chinese Football Association to select a coach are very limited. What is certain is that, combined with the various problems encountered in the past coach selection process, and even the lessons, the Chinese Football Association will not blindly follow the decision, and even does not rule out the possibility of temporarily using the interim coaching team to "put out the fire" before the new coach takes office.
After the Chinese team confirmed its exit from this Asian Cup on the afternoon of January 23 local time, the whole team left the front hotel in the evening local time, and then took the flight that departed in the early morning of the 24th local time to return home. It is understood that by the afternoon of the 24th, Beijing time, including the members of the Chinese Football Association delegation accompanying the team, most of the team's personnel had returned to China safely. Head coach Jankovic, assistant coach Perovic, and goalkeeper coach Maksimovic returned to Belgrade, Serbia at the same time.
When several foreign coaches began to take leave, the Chinese Football Association has quietly started the preparations for the next stage of the national football team, and the top priority is to confirm the coach of the next stage. According to the goals and requirements put forward by the Chinese Football Association, the Chinese team should strive to be among the top 8 in this Asian Cup, that is, to tie the record of the last Asian Cup. Unfortunately, the team failed to even break through the group and ended its 13th Asian Cup journey with an unprecedentedly poor record of zero goals and zero wins. In terms of results, Jankovic did not complete the team leadership target. In other words, such a result could already trigger the termination clause between the Chinese Football Association and Jankovic's team.
All indications show that the next change of coach of the Chinese Football Association is a high probability event. However, since there are only less than 2 months left before the resumption of the round of 36 in late March, the time left for the Chinese Football Association to implement the change of coach is very limited. Because of this, some media have launched a reasonable imagination of the new commander. For example, Shandong Taishan Korean coach Cui Kangxi, Chinese Super League Chengdu Rongcheng Korean coach Xu Zhengyuan, and Zhejiang team Spanish coach Jody have all been linked to the rumors.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned that in view of the problems such as "rushing" in the selection of coaches in the past, including the selection of Jankovic, the Chinese Football Association will be extremely cautious once the change of coach is confirmed. The selection of coaches will be strictly based on the coaching ability and comprehensive quality of the candidate coaches, the successful coaching experience and experience, coaching philosophy, the degree of understanding of Chinese and Asian football, the price of cooperation and many other factors. In terms of time and conditions, there are indeed some current and former managers of the Chinese Super League who meet the basic conditions for candidate coaches. However, although Xu Zhengyuan and Jody have achieved good results in the process of coaching the club team, they are basically "blank" in the coaching level of the national team. Relatively speaking, Choi Kang-hee, who once coached the South Korean national team, is closer to the standard of the new coach in terms of ability, experience, and temperament. If there is a change of manager, then he can undoubtedly be an important option.
Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned people, such as Queiroz, who has been immersed in the international football coaching stage for many years, and has a high level of coaching and experience, may also re-enter the Chinese Football Association's field of vision for coach selection.
It is worth noting that the selection of the national football coach has always been a two-way choice. Even if the Chinese Football Association can clarify the main target of the candidate, whether it can cooperate depends on the price factor. For example, it is reported that Choi Kang-hee's annual salary for coaching the Taishan team is more than $3 million. At present, Jankovic's annual salary is about 1.2 million euros, and the Chinese Football Association will set a reasonable price space for cooperation in the future selection of coaches in strict accordance with relevant standards, and will never be swayed by the sky-high asking price of agents (teams). From this point of view, the change of commander strictly pursues cost performance, and the implementation of specific work cannot be easy. If time is pressing, then the Chinese Football Association does not rule out that in the process of selecting a coach, the interim coaching team will be temporarily arranged as a transitional candidate to "put out the fire" for the team.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily, Doha, Qatar Special correspondent Xiao Yun