According to the Beijing Youth Daily, as most of the international players will take part in the August 21 and 22
AFC Cup (soccer championship)
Quarterfinals, the national team had to delay the start of training, the specific start time until August 23 at the earliest.
According to the schedule, the Chinese team will play the first round of the 18-team tournament away to Japan and the second round at home against Saudi Arabia on September 5 and 10 respectively. In order to prepare well for this stage of the tournament, the
national soccer team
The coaching team had planned to kick off the new phase of team training on August 18 after consultation with the CFA. For this reason, the CFA advanced the 24th round of Super League matches, which were originally scheduled for August 24 and 25, to July 20-22, so as to gain as much preparation time as possible for the national team.
However, in the 5th round (1/8 final) of this season's FA Cup, which ended in mid-July, Shanghai Harbor, Shanghai Shenhua, Shandong Taishan, Beijing Guoan and other international players have been among the top 8 players. According to the will of the participating teams, the quarter-finals of the AFC Cup will be held on August 21st and 22nd. Since the winner of the AFC Cup will automatically get a ticket to the main round of the AFC Elite League in the new season, the clubs have attached great importance to the competition and arranged for all the main players, including international players, to play in the Cup. The national team fully respects the competitive interests of the club teams and will not force the national players to play during the AFC Cup.
Therefore, even if the national football team is concentrated on August 18, the players who can arrive at the team may be less than 10 people, the team can not carry out normal training. After communication between the CFA and the national football coaching team, the decision was made to extend the time for the new team to concentrate to the end of the quarter-finals of the FIFA Cup, which means that the training will not start until August 23 at the earliest. For the international players who do not participate in the FFA Cup, they can get a proper rest and recuperation.
According to the plan, the Chinese team will leave Dalian on September 2 and fly to Tokyo, Japan to prepare for the September 5 match between China and Japan.
