Fernando's return is brave, Alain's return is in sight, can the national football team still rely on naturalization to impact the 2026 World Cup?
On February 18, the AFC confirmed through official channels that Fernando, who plays for Shandong Taishan Club in the Chinese Super League, was elected as the best player in the first leg of the 1/8 finals of the AFC Champions League this season. Before that, the news of the rendezvous between another naturalized player, Alain, and the Chinese Super League promoted horse Qingdao West Coast in South Korea was also confirmed. Can the naturalized corps still become a force that the Chinese team can rely on to impact the 2026 World Cup? This is a question that the Chinese Football Association and the future national football coaching team need to think carefully.
The data shows that among the 624 players participating in this Asian Cup, there are 110 naturalized players, almost double the number of naturalized players in the previous tournament. Among them, there are 76 naturalized players and 34 non-naturalized players. Among the 24 participating teams, except for the South Korean team, the Uzbekistan team, and the Saudi Arabian team, the remaining 21 participating teams all have naturalized players.
Afif
The Qatari team finally defended its title, largely thanks to the strength of the "naturalization force". Among the 26 players in the Qatar team, there are as many as 12 naturalized players, including attackers Ali and Afif, who won the title of best player in the last two Asian Cups and the Golden Boot respectively. Iraq, Syria and Australia recruited 12, 9 and 11 naturalized players respectively. Malaysia, with 14 players, drew 3-3 with one of the favourites in the final round of the group stage against South Korea, who tasted the sweetness of naturalized players.
Due to the relocation and postponement of the competition, this Asian Cup is scheduled to be held during the interval between the round of 36 of the 2026 World Preliminary Championships. In other words, this Asian Cup is the most valuable training for the teams to impact the 2026 World Cup, and the event itself has undoubtedly become the vane of competition in the Asian region of the World Preliminary Tournament. Through the Asian Cup, the teams grinded and accumulated strength for the next more fierce competition in the World Preliminaries, and the naturalized players also took the opportunity to complete an effective run-in with their respective teams.
If Dai Weijun, who previously changed his membership of FIFA member associations, is removed, the only naturalized player used by the Chinese team during this Asian Cup is actually 1 defender, Jiang Guangtai. After the end of the last Asian Cup in early 2019, there was a wave of naturalized players in domestic football. At that time, a number of players, including Ackerson, Fernando, Luo Guofu, Li Ke, Jiang Guangtai, Hou Yongyong, Xiao Taotao, Qian Jieqi, Alain, Goulart, etc., were successfully naturalized under the operation of all parties. However, due to various objective factors, only 6 people including Exxon, Fernando, Luo Guofu, Li Ke, Jiang Guangtai, and Alan were finally recruited by the national football team. After the "ebb of the golden yuan" in the domestic professional league, a considerable number of the above-mentioned naturalized players left the Chinese professional football scene for a time, and some have even regained their original nationality. In the past year or so, there are only 3 naturalized players who can be among the standing forces of the national football team: Ackerson, Li Ke, and Jiang Guangtai.
Regrettably, due to age and other factors, Aikesen is no longer as brave as he used to be, and Li Ke was also punished by coach Jankovic for leaving the team during the national football team's Abu Dhabi training at the beginning of the year due to the "late incident", and they are no longer the "must-choose" of the national football team.
Alain's return to the Chinese Super League is undoubtedly good news for fans who love him. However, the soon-to-be-35-year-old has returned to professional football in Brazil since June 2022 and has only made five appearances and scored one goal. For a player known for his speed and breakthroughs, it takes a long preparation period to recover his technical level after a long absence. It can be seen that even if the national football team still maintains its attention to Alain, it will be difficult for the latter to return to the national football team after 1 month.
Comparatively speaking, Fernando's situation is significantly better. In the first leg of the AFC Champions League 1/8 final a few days ago, Fernando did not come on as a substitute until the 57th minute. But only 10 minutes after coming on the field, he used his personal ability to pull back a goal for the Taishan team. Compared with Alan and Exxon, Fernando, who was born in 1993, has a certain age advantage. After the national football team lost the Asian Cup, if Fernando can recover as soon as possible and maintain a stable appearance rate in the club team, then he can still become a sharp weapon for the national football team to impact the 2026 World Cup.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun