In the late afternoon of August 30th, as preparations for the 2026 U.S.-Mexico FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers and the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar approached, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) unveiled a new training list for the national soccer team, which covers 24 foreign players. Shanghai Port, who met their Waterloo in the AFC Champions League play-offs, contributed eight players to the national team this time, a proportion of one-third of the entire squad.
With the official announcement of the new training list of the national team, it immediately triggered the majority of Chinese fans and the media's hot discussion and accusations. Outside the controversy on this list mainly focuses on the following three aspects.
Bearing the brunt of Shanghai Port's defense are Zhang Linpeng and Wang Shenchao, two veterans who are old and have been in a slump lately. How did they both end up on the national soccer team's roster? As we all know, Shanghai Port lost four consecutive matches in the AFC Champions League playoffs, and the weakness of the team's defense is largely attributed to these two players. Jankovic's move to select these two out-of-form players instead of considering the actual form of the players is really puzzling.
Secondly, Beijing Guoan's Li Ke, Li Lei and Wang Ziming have been selected. Li Ke's naturalization makes his selection uncontroversial, but Li Lei's and Wang Ziming's selection is not convincing enough. Although Li Lei is not bad, but due to recent injuries and have not played, this time the selection is elusive; Wang Ziming's recent decline in form, the selection of the doubt is also questionable. In contrast, Zhang Xizhe, the core of Guoan's midfield, has been in hot form lately, but failed to win Jankovic's favor, which also triggered widespread criticism from the outside world.
Furthermore, Shandong Luneng's Wang Dalei, Chen Pu and Sun Guowen were selected. While Wang Dalei and Chen Pu's selections were well deserved, Sun Guowen's was a bit of a stretch. Sun Guowen has been in poor form recently and has struggled to get a chance to play for Luneng. How on earth did he get selected for the national team? Meanwhile, Luneng midfielder Li Yuanyi, who has been in excellent form recently, has not been recognized by Jankovic, which also raises questions about Jankovic's selection criteria.
In conclusion, after scrutinizing the training list of the national soccer team, most fans are disappointed and we can't help but think that Jankovic's decision-making is slightly confusing. With such a group of foreign players playing in the world qualifiers, I am afraid that the future is not optimistic.
