After completing the second internal teaching match of this Shanghai training session, the Chinese coaching team will announce the "25 starters + 4 substitutes" national team list later on the 20th for the seventh and eighth rounds of the 12-team tournament away from home. Meanwhile, the players who failed to make the cut will leave one by one from the 21st to return to their respective hometowns to enjoy their vacation.
On the afternoon of the 20th, the Chinese team started the second internal teaching match of the first training session of the New Year at the Yuan Shen Stadium, which is also the last warm-up match before the team travels to the away game in Japan. The coaching team plans to select 25 players from the 52-member training roster after the match, who will be involved in the two key away matches of the Round of 12 on Jan. 27 against Japan and Feb. 1 against Vietnam.
According to Beijing Youth Daily, the final list of 25 selected players will also include those overseas players who meet the requirements of the coaching team and have arrived at the team to report to the conditions, which means that Wu Lei and Li Lei, who play for European clubs, as well as the five naturalized players, are likely to be included. The coaching team will decide how many players will ultimately be selected from the 44 players arriving in Shanghai to travel to Japan based on factors such as the visa status of the overseas players. At the moment, it seems more likely that Wu Lei, Alan and Jiang Guangtai will join the team in Japan as they are traveling directly from Spain and Brazil. As for whether the other overseas players can be in place in time, the coaching team still needs to consider it comprehensively.
According to the original plan, the Chinese team will take a chartered flight from Shanghai to Tokyo, Japan on the afternoon of the 23rd. The international players who failed to make the list for the trip will leave one by one from the 21st to start their vacation. In view of the uncertainty of overseas player recruitment, the coaching team, while determining the 25-member starting lineup, has also reserved four substitutes to ensure that they can cope with unforeseen circumstances. These four substitutes will be with the team at least until the departure date, just in case.
It is reported that due to the limitations of the quota of personnel to go to Japan as well as some coaches are still shouldering the responsibility of leading the team, this period of training in the national football team about half of the local assistant coaches will be in the end of the training in Shanghai to leave the team, Zheng Zhi, Sun Jihai and other local coaches are expected to go to Japan with the head coach Li Xiaopeng.
In addition, Pep, the new Spanish assistant coach of the national football team, is expected to depart from Barcelona later on January 22nd local time and fly to Tokyo, Japan, where he will join the national football team on the 23rd. Prior to his departure, Pep had already learned about the Chinese team and other opponents in the 12-team tournament through modern communication technology and watched matches such as the final of the AFC Cup, which facilitated him to start his work quickly.
