According to the established plan, about 80 members of the Chinese soccer team will depart from their hotel in Shanghai in the evening of August 25 and take a chartered flight to Doha, the capital of Qatar, just after 1:00 a.m. the next morning to take part in the first two rounds of the Asian Qualifying Round 12 matches of the World Cup. Hours before the departure, in the afternoon of the 25th, the team will have an internal warm-up match at the Shanghai Houpel Sports Park base. The coaching team will make a final decision on the travel roster based on the health of the players and any possible injuries after the warm-up.
Since August 18th, the Chinese team started a new round of training in Shanghai. In view of the international players have just experienced a super-intensive league schedule, head coach Li Tie intentionally reduced the intensity of some training, and on August 20, special authorization for players to move freely, and reunion with friends and relatives.
Despite the daunting task of preparing for the Top 12, the team's outdoor training remains full. In the last two days, the focus of training has shifted from physical recovery to technical and tactical drills.
Together with the recent call-ups of Zheng Zheng, Wang Shangyuan and Wu Lei, who is in Spain, there are a total of 33 players in the current national football training squad. During an exchange with the media on the 22nd, Li Tie emphasized that the Chinese team will send as many players as possible in view of the difficulties of international travel brought about by the epidemic. This means that as long as the physical condition allows, 32 Shanghai training international players are expected to go to Doha to participate.
However, the two players initially recruited by the coaching staff on a supplemental basis were mainly in consideration of the injury risk present in the team. Some of the players have suffered injuries of varying degrees after a number of consecutive matches. If an individual player's injury is serious enough to prevent normal training, the team will not rule out the possibility of treating him or her domestically.
Affected by the epidemic, the Chinese team has been unable to schedule world-class warm-up matches before the Top 12 tournament. In order to test the effect of preparation and warm up for the Top 12, the coaching team decided to solve the problem through internal confrontation matches. According to the plan, the whole team will play a warm-up match in Shanghai on the afternoon of August 25th, a few hours before the trip. The coaching staff will also finalize the travel list based on the warm-up game and possible injuries.
It is reported that the national football team this trip to West Asia to fight for the 12 strong match, will be led by the chairman of the Football Association, Chen Xuyuan, during the 40 strong match together with the deputy director of the General Administration of Sport, the party secretary of the Football Association, Du Zhaocai this time for some reason can not accompany the team. However, he has been concerned about the team, recently arrived in Shanghai, for the team to send encouragement and blessings.
As of the afternoon of August 24, the Football Association is still actively communicating with the AFC, the Australian Football Association, the Qatar Football Association and other relevant departments to communicate the details of the first round of the 12-team tournament. Australia-China match has been determined to be played in Doha on the afternoon of September 2, the specific kick-off time is still to be finalized by the Australian Football Association in conjunction with the demand for television broadcasts.
