In the early morning of August 26, the Chinese team took the Qatar Airways plane, departed from Shanghai and flew directly to Doha, Qatar, to prepare for participation in the upcoming opening of the World Preliminary Round Asian Zone 12 first two rounds of matches. In addition to the preparation for the war, epidemic prevention and heat prevention has also become a key task of the team's westward journey. It is reported that the Chinese team arrived in Doha, is likely to stay in the local Marriott Hotel, training arrangements will depend on the venue air-conditioning equipment.
Recently, the Chinese team in Shanghai actively prepare for the game, while the CFA working group is nervous deployment of the 12 strong match of the various security work. At present, all the players have received the specific travel arrangements for the flight from Shanghai to Doha in the early hours of the 26th.
Affected by the epidemic, the CFA was not able to send staff to Doha in advance to inspect the hotel, training and competition venues, but through modern communication technology, the security team has a detailed understanding of the local training, competition and reception conditions. The Qatar Football Association also recommended two alternative hotels to the Australian Football Association and the CFA: the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott.
As the AFC and Qatar Football Association (QFA) have not committed to providing independent hotels for the participating teams, the CFA has been very careful in selecting the hotels. It is reported that the Australian team may choose the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, while the Chinese team is leaning towards the Marriott Hotel.
There is no definite information on whether the Chinese team will receive other travelers at the same time after they move into the resident hotel. From the point of view of epidemic prevention, the Chinese Football Association hopes that the national football delegation will have exclusive use of a hotel. According to the epidemic prevention requirements issued by the Qatar Football Association (QFA) last week, the teams will be in a "bubble-type" closed loop of epidemic prevention during their stay in Doha until they leave the country.
In addition to epidemic prevention, heat prevention is also an important task for the Chinese team in Doha. Data show that the local outdoor temperature in Doha often exceeds 40 degrees Celsius during the day, and the surface temperature is even higher.
The first round of matches will be played at the air-conditioned Khalifa International Stadium, but the cost of air-conditioned stadiums is high, and it is doubtful whether the Qatar Football Association (QFA) will agree to the teams' daily training in air-conditioned stadiums. It is worth mentioning that the AFC and the QFA have initially arranged for the Chinese and Australian teams to train outdoors at 4:00 p.m. locally. It would be a challenge for any team to train in a non-air-conditioned stadium. If this is the case, the Chinese team does not rule out negotiating with the local side to postpone the training time to the night.
As of now, there is no official confirmation of the detailed kickoff time for the September 2 match between Australia and China. However, judging from the organizations mentioned above, the match is likely to kick off at around 4 p.m. locally.
