The 69-year-old coach was parachuted, the former Real Madrid coach was an alternate, and Song Kai reported to the General Bureau
Shandong Taishan is about to start the 2024 season, and they will be the first team to appear in the AFC Champions League knockout round in the new season to save some face for Chinese football in the Asian arena. Previously, the national football team suffered a painful defeat in the Asian Cup, and the national football team must make adjustments as soon as possible, otherwise this failure will continue to the subsequent world preliminaries. What can bring changes to the national football team in a short period of time is the change of coach, although there has not been an official announcement of Kovic's resignation, but Jankovic himself has revealed the news of his dismissal.
According to domestic media, after a brief inquiry of several candidate coaches, the Football Association has officially started the process of selecting a coach. Song Kai convened a meeting of experts from the Coaching Committee, clarified the goal of selecting a coach for the national team as soon as possible, and began the process of changing coaches. The change of coach process is Song Kai personally formulated, in the previous national youth change of coach has been gone through, and Chen Xuyuan, Du Zhaocai chose Jankovic different, the change of coach process needs the coaching committee expert group to conduct a preliminary test, interview, and finally Song Kai reported to the General Administration to finalize.
Song Kai and the coaching committee formulated a principle, that is, to choose a capable coach with rich experience in Asian football, and in order to avoid trouble, they excluded the managers of Chinese Super League clubs such as Choi Kang-hee and Jodi. And on the basis of the results of preliminary inquiries, two candidates, Ivankovic and Queiroz, were identified. Because they have a lot of experience in Asian football, the salary is also within the affordable range of the Football Association. This time, the local coach did not enter Song Kai's eyes at all, ability is one thing, and more importantly, I don't want to have an example like Li Tie again.
Between Ivankovic and Queiroz, the 69-year-old Croatian is the top choice because he has a richer resume in Asian football and even knows the Chinese Super League well. Ivankovic coached Shandong Taishan more than 10 years ago and led the team to the Chinese Super League championship, which added a lot of points to him. In addition, Ivankovic has coached Qatar, Iran and Oman, and he has led Oman to great progress in the last four years, and in the last World Cup cycle, he led Oman and the national football team to meet in the round of 12, with a record of 1 win and 1 draw, and even beat Japan 1-0.
The selection of the coach of the national football team is beyond the scope of the Football Association, and in the end it still needs to be signed by the General Administration. Of course, after the Football Association makes a choice, if there is no big surprise, then the national football coach is basically determined. However, the pressure and tasks of the national football coach have become heavier now, because the level of Chinese football has now become worse, and it is no longer the level when Ivankovic coached the Taishan team. Therefore, the Football Association will also have expectations for the selection of coaches, and will not give the coach too high requirements.