It's a familiar life-and-death battle again, the next game Wu Lei is suspended, how should the national football team beat Thailand
Although the process was slightly tortuous, Ivankovic still won his first victory in charge of the national football team.
Of course, for the national football team, the 4-1 match at the Tianjin Olympic Sports Center should have been won, and the 2-2 draw with Singapore five days ago finally forced the team into a desperate situation where they had to win against Thailand in the next game.
Exactly nine years ago on June 15, the 1-5 defeat in Hefei was the most painful defeat since the professionalization of Chinese football. Chinese football looks forward to using this victory to wash away the shame.
The national football team has finally won the "right to breathe" for itself.
Life and death battles, get used to it
In the two back-to-back games against Singapore, the national football team originally planned to get 6 points, so that even if Thailand gets 1 point at the home stadium of South Korea, the national football team will get a draw before the final match with Thailand at home.
However, the 2-2 draw in Singapore on the evening of the 21st finally forced the national football team into a desperate situation - fortunately, everything went as expected in the fourth round of the game on the 26th, the national football team defeated Singapore, and South Korea did not give Thailand another chance, they defeated the national football team and Thailand with the same 3-0 away games in two consecutive years.
Now, the pressure has come to the side of the national football team, and in the second stage of the world preliminaries, the national football team was forced to a dead end for the third consecutive time.
In the 2018 World Preliminary Round of 40 stage, because of the loss to Qatar and the subsequent 0-0 draw by Hong Kong, China home and away respectively, Gao Hongbo was ordered to face the need for the help of all Asian teams to get the last top 12 qualification - in the end, the national football team did its best first, defeated Qatar 2-0 at home, and then the Philippines drew with North Korea, and the national football team advanced to the round of 12.
In the first four games of the 2022 World Preliminary Championships, Lippi's national football team drew 0-0 with the Philippines away and lost 1-2 to Syria.
The points of the national football team's group.
Of course, in the past two World Preliminaries, whether it is Qatar or Syria, they finally played the final game with the national football team in the case of early qualification, and did not work 100%, and now the game with Thailand has become a direct match between the two teams, which is a real life and death battle.
At present, the national football team has scored 7 points after the fourth round to surpass Thailand, with a goal difference of 8 to 7, while Thailand has 4 points and a goal difference of 5 to 7.
In this way, if the national football team draws with Thailand at home, they will have to score points in the final round against South Korea, otherwise the advantage of three goal difference will not be enough in the case of a final round loss, and Thailand will still have the ability to beat Singapore by a big score at home.
Once you lose, it basically means that you are basically out, and Chinese football has ushered in a real decisive moment!
Wu Lei compared his heart after scoring a goal.
Wu Lei's absence is the biggest trouble for the national football team
In the two-legged game against Singapore, Wu Lei scored two goals respectively - in the top 40 stage of this year's top 40 matches, the national football team scored 8 goals in the first 4 games, and Wu Lei contributed 5 goals and 1 assist, which was completely a thigh-level performance.
Even Ivankovic said that because football is a team sport, he usually does not comment on the performance of a player alone, but this time he specifically said in the post-match press conference, "Wu Lei, as the captain, performed very well in this game, reflecting the captain's leadership temperament." ”
But unfortunately, because of the 67th minute of the game to knock down the opposing player, Wu Lei received the second yellow card of the group stage, for which he will miss the home game against Thailand on June 6 - the lack of a striker related to 75% of the team's goals, this is undoubtedly a considerable downside.
In the past two World Preliminaries, in the life-and-death battle between Wuhan and Qatar in 2016, Wu Lei received a direct pass from Hao Junmin and stepped forward with a left-footed volley to seal the victory.
In 2020, in two key games in Sharjah, the Philippines and Syria, Wu Lei also scored.
Li Yuanyi was sent off with a red card.
In addition to Wu Lei, Li Yuanyi, who just made his national football debut during the international break, was unable to participate in the life-and-death battle with Thailand because of a red card, and the absence of the two made Ivan a little disappointed.
"Wu Lei, as the captain, is also the team's top scorer. Li Yuanyi was in good shape during this time, and neither of them was able to play, which is a regrettable situation. ”
He said frankly, "In the next two months, the coaching staff should strengthen their understanding of the players, run in the lineup, and use the whole to make up for individual trends." ”
National football fans at the scene.
Ivan needs to know the players more deeply
He admitted that he and his team had watched two rounds of the Chinese Super League and did not know the players very well.
After these two games, Ivan finally has the opportunity to get to know the players in depth and get to know the players - the third round of the Chinese Super League will be played this weekend, and there will be a total of 12 rounds of the league by the end of May, and Ivan will have plenty of time to scout the players.
Judging by the previous two games, Ivan's 4-4-2 diamond midfield system is not going to change – in fact, it has been the same system since he led Oman. Especially with the 4-1 home win over Singapore, Ivan will also have more confidence in his system.
Can Exxon get back into form and replace Wu Lei?
However, player selection and fine-tuning for some positions is a must.
For example, Wei Shihao's position, he was arranged to play as the No. 10 organizational midfielder in two consecutive substitute appearances, but Wei Shihao is a wing attacker, and the central organization is not his strength.
And with the suspension of Li Yuanyi, how to better choose the back and left midfielder is also the answer that Ivan needs to give in these two months.
Of course, the biggest problem comes from Wu Lei's suspension, and Ivan needs to find a replacement for Wu Lei - after all, this is a life-and-death battle that must be won, and the national football team needs someone to step up and complete the goal.