"Do you think it's easy to play in Singapore, let me tell you about the iron bucket formation, you are away from Singapore, can you tell me that you are very good to break?" In a live broadcast conducted by Fan Zhiyi and Huang Jianxiang and others two months ago, General Fan admitted that it is not easy to play Singapore away from home.
At that time, the national football team suffered a rout in the Asian Cup, and the group stage did not score a goal and went out directly, and the change of coach was imminent, and then the Croatian coach Ivankovic, who had coached Shandong Taishan, took office.
The match with Singapore at 20:30 Beijing time on March 21 will be Ivankovic's first game after coaching the national football team, and he himself attaches great importance to this game.
He made a large-scale revision of the national football list of former coach Jankovic, and many players in the 26-man squad were selected for the first time, and at the same time changed Li Tie and Jankovic's negative attitude towards naturalized players, and Ivankovic recalled Jiang Guangtai, Exxon and Fernando in the first game.
Ivan is also ready for his debut, and is basically preparing for the game in a desperate state, and said at a press conference on the 19th: "We have the highest respect for the Singapore team. We watched the footage of Singapore's previous three games, and the opponents in the World Qualifiers are all of a certain quality, and we want to go for it with motivation. ”
In Ivan's view, what the team needs most at present is to show cohesion and show enough combat effectiveness, and he believes that the national football team has no way out and no choice for the overall goal of the team, and must go all out to impact the United States, Canada and Mexico World Cup.
From these remarks, we can also see Ivan's attitude and determination, he came with the task of attacking the World Cup, although the road will not be smooth, but he himself still shows enough confidence.
Despite Singapore's world ranking of only 157, Ivan believes that there is no such thing as a strong team or a weak team in football, "We respect our opponents as well as ourselves. Rankings don't mean anything. I expected the game to be difficult, so I told the players and prepared for the difficult game. ”
According to previous media reports, the starting lineup of the Chinese team has basically been determined to be led by Wu Lei and Zhang Yuning on the front line, with Jiang Guangtai and Zhu Chenjie in the back, and the goalkeeper position is still Yan Junling, and there is not much surprise in the start, the only exception is that the returning Fernando is likely to be arranged by Ivan as the right winger.
Since joining Shandong Taishan Motorcycle, he has been playing very well, whether it is in the Chinese Super League or the AFC Champions League, he has shown first-class competitive form, and frequently sent assists. At the critical moment when the national football team is weak, the return of the small motorcycle is tantamount to a powerful supplement to the national football team's forward.
Since becoming a naturalized Chinese citizen in 2019, Fernando has only participated in the national football training camp, and did not usher in his national team appearance during the Li Tie and Jankovic periods, and now he is likely to make a belated national team debut against Singapore four years after naturalization.
Fernando is not only Ivan, but Fan Zhiyi, a celebrity, also expressed his concern about the small motorcycle on social media, he said: "I think the little motorcycle Fernando feels that he will play a little role."
At the same time, he also hopes that the Chinese team can play spiritually, how to adopt a positive tactical attitude is the most important, he believes that there is still a gap between the strength of Singapore and the national football team, the key is whether the national football team can grasp the opportunity and ability.
At present, the Chinese team ranks third in the group, because the goal difference is behind Thailand, and most of Thailand's goals come from a 5:0 victory with Singapore.