The 6th U23 Asian Cup and the Asian finals of the men's football qualifiers for the Paris Olympics will kick off in Doha, Qatar on April 15. It is understood that the new Croatian coach of the Chinese men's football team, Ivankovic, will arrive in Doha on the same day. He plans to go to the scene to watch the two rounds of group stage matches between the Chinese Olympic team, the Japanese Olympic team and the South Korean Olympic team in the group stage of this event, so as to "excavate" his favorite young elite players in this national Olympic team and add them to the national football team.
After leading the national football team to win the fourth round of the round of 36 against the Singapore team in Tianjin, head coach Ivankovic set off from Beijing in the early morning of the 29th Beijing time and returned to Zagreb, Croatia, to prepare for a work visa to China. It is understood that because the work permit needs to be implemented before applying for this type of visa, the specific procedures are complicated and take a considerable period of time. In this case, Ivan had to watch the live broadcast of the Chinese Super League matches in his hometown through modern means of communication and pay attention to the candidate internationals.
The calendar shows that the second phase of this season's Chinese Super League (round 3) starts on March 29 and ends on May 26 (round 14), which means that there is more time left for the national football coaching staff to further examine the players. In addition, some league and player inspections can also be completed with the assistance of members of the Chinese coaching team. Therefore, Ivankovic, who has a strong sense of time and a pragmatic work style, decided to go to Doha, Qatar to watch the new U23 Asian Cup, that is, part of the matches of the Chinese Olympic team in the final stage of the Paris Olympic preliminaries.
Ivan obviously went to Doha not simply to enjoy the game, but to watch the game on the spot, select some plastic talents from the lineup of the Chinese Olympic team, and prepare for the further implementation of the "blood update" of the national football team. It is worth noting that in the current national Olympic team, players such as strikers Xie Wenneng, Tao Qianglong, Eiffelding, and defender Liang Shaowen have all been selected for the national football training camp or squad at different times, and they also constitute the main force of this national Olympic team to impact the Paris Olympics. If they can have an impressive performance in this cup, then they may become a new force in the next step of the national football team. In this way, Ivan's trip can be described as a "treasure hunting" trip.
It has to be said that the grouping results of the Chinese Olympic team in this event are very unsatisfactory, and they are in the same group as the two favorite teams of Japan and South Korea, and it is unprecedentedly difficult to qualify. Ivankovic currently only plans to watch the first two games of the group stage of the Chinese Olympic team against the Japanese Olympic team (16th) and the South Korean Olympic team (19th), and then return to China as soon as the 20th to devote himself to the field investigation of the new round of professional leagues.
According to the plan, Ivankovic will fly from Zagreb to Doha later on the 15th. It is possible that he will be stationed in the same hotel as the Chinese Olympic team. If conditions permit, Ivan does not rule out the possibility of using the team's training and games to communicate with the coaching team of the National Olympic team under the head coach of Cheng Yaodong. If the national Olympic team is in need, I believe Ivan can provide technical assistance to this team without reservation.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun