In the national team, apart from four players - Tan Long, Jiang Guangtai, Zhu Chenjie and Dai Weijun - other members of the team have yet to make an appearance in an A-level world-class tournament. The last time most of the players participated in an international tournament was the Dubai Cup in March this year, however, the nature of the tournament was invitational, with the teams participating in the U23 units from Asian countries, and the overall strength of the team was far from the adult national team.
In contrast, the two soccer powerhouses, South Korea and Japan, have sent their strongest lineups, except for players from Europe, to prepare for the World Cup. Therefore, the media is not optimistic about the performance of our team in this year's East Asian Cup. The Korean media even wrote that our team's lineup is "ridiculous, the choice of personnel is shocking", "reckless challenge is about to open".
Starting center still to be determined
In the absence of starters such as Wu Xi, Zhang Linpeng and Zhang Yuning, Jankovic did not add other overage players, but picked three 99-age players, Mou Xuchen, Su Shihao and Liu Ruofanadium. Among them, Su Shihao and Liu Ruofan vanadium with Zhang Linpeng and Zhang Yuning in the pairing change, while Muxuchen played as an attacking forward, a different style from Wu Xi.
Jankovic had only three days of training left before departing from our country, so it was a normal move for him to choose three familiar U23 players to replace them. These three have also participated in the U23 training before, and are more familiar with Jankovic's technical and tactical characteristics.
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The current concern is the use of two overage players. Jiang Guangtai and Zhu Chenjie are the main center back pairing of the national team, but Jiang Guangtai's performance in the league has been sluggish, with several primary defensive errors. In addition, the pivotal center forward is crucial in Jankovic's tactical system. Zhang Yuning was originally Yankovic's first choice, but in Zhang's absence due to injury, Tan Long played as the only overage striker, but he did not fit the technical characteristics of a pivot-type center forward, and played more as a right winger in Changchun Yatai's team. How to use Tan Long is a problem that Jankovic must face.
In fact, apart from Tan Long, Liu Ruofan was entrusted with a heavy responsibility in the center forward position of Shenhua team this season. He himself has also played well, repeatedly utilizing his individual breakthrough ability to win penalties for Shenhua. However, Liu Ruofan was once cold-shouldered by Jankovic, and he even failed to participate in the training and Dubai Cup matches at the beginning of this year. Sources say that Jankovic's requirement of high interception and pressing of strikers is high, and Liu Ruofan's performance is not strong enough in this aspect.
Achieving the event's "small goal" is no easy task
Considering the limited overall strength of our selection team, the small goal set for our team is to beat our Hong Kong team and avoid being at the bottom of the competition. However, all indications are that it will not be easy to accomplish this goal.
China's Hong Kong FA released the training list on July 1, with a total of 33 players selected. On July 7, three more Hong Kong players who have played in the Chinese Super League were added to the team, including Meizhou Hakka defender Laurus, Zhejiang's main center back Leung Noi Hang and Guangzhou City midfielder Chen Junle. The previously released 33 players also have a number of naturalized players, including goalkeeper Paulo, defender Thomas and striker Fernando, who are from Brazil; midfielder Yuto Nakamura, who is from Japan and played for Urawa Red Diamonds' youth team but did not play in the Japanese professional league. in 2009, he switched to the Hong Kong Premier League along with Japan's veteran striker Masayuki Okano.
The head coach is 59-year-old Norwegian Andersen, who used to play in the Bundesliga all year round during his playing days, and also won the top scorer of the Bundesliga in the 1990 season. After turning to coaching, he spent many years in Asia, serving as the head coach of Incheon United of the K-League and the North Korean national team. 2021, he took over as the head coach of the Hong Kong team and led the team to the final stage of the Asian Cup after 54 days. Now, he is keen to prove the strength of his team on the big brother China and also warm up for next year's Asian Cup in advance.
According to the news released by the official website of the Hong Kong Football Association, our Hong Kong team will start to concentrate from July 11, training until July 15, and then take the flight to Japan on the 16th to compete.
