In this round of the Chinese Super League, the Beijing-Shanghai battle between Beijing Guoan and Shanghai Shenhua is undoubtedly the most concerned fans. From the first year of A-A to the 2023 Chinese Super League, Guoan and Shenhua have been playing each other in the league for nearly 30 years. Each game has touched the hearts of countless Beijing and Shanghai fans.
This game is important for both Guoan and Shenhua. If Guoan wins at home, they could move up to fourth place in the league, while Shenhua will probably be overtaken by Shandong Taishan. If Shenhua get 3 points on the road, they can keep the second place in the league.
Therefore, the players of both teams are bound to do their best in the game, and the process will be quite exciting. It is believed that a large number of Beijing fans will flock to the stadium to watch the game. In this Beijing-Shanghai match, there will also be a VIP guest at the stadium. He is the head coach of the national soccer team, Yankovic.
Of course, Jankovic is not just there to watch the match between Guoan and Shenhua, his main purpose is to scout international players for the national team. In the past two years, Guoan has been a big player for the national soccer team. Players such as Zhang Yuning, Yu Dabao, Zhang Xunzhe, Ji Zhongguo, Wang Gang, Li Lei, Wang Ziming and Gao Tianyi have been selected for the national team many times.
And today's Shenhua team also has a number of players with international strength, in addition to Wu Xi, Dai Weijun and Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Shenglong and Ma Zhen have been in high demand to be selected for the national team recently.
However, with age, Guoan veterans such as Dabao, Ji Zhongguo and Wang Gang have faded out of the national football team, and Zhang Xizhe missed out on the national team as he was dumped by new coach Ricardo Suarez for this season's league campaign.
Fortunately, Suarez has realized that Guoan is not just relegation bound like the teams he brought before him. Giving up the midfield and simply defending and counterattacking is not suitable for Guoan. Therefore, Zhang Xizhe rejoined Guoan's starting lineup in the last round of the league, responsible for organizing and scheduling in the midfield, and issued an assist to help Guoan beat Nantong Jiyun 1-0 on the road.
Through this game's performance, we can see that although 32-year-old Zhang Xizhe has started to gain weight, his skills and awareness are still at the top level of Chinese midfielders. With his organization in tandem, Guoan's attack in front of the field became smoother, thus reducing the pressure on the team's backline.
Therefore, if Zhang Xizhe can continue to perform well in the Beijing-Shanghai battle, Jankovic will likely call him up to the national team again, which will undoubtedly be a surprise for Zhang Xizhe.
In addition to Zhang Xizhe, Jankovic will also be focusing on another midfielder in Guoan's squad, naturalized player Li Ke. After naturalizing in 2019, Li Ke was quickly selected for the national team, becoming the first international player in the history of the national team to naturalize a Chinese national.
However, Li Ke's luck has been really bad in the past two years as he has not represented Guoan in the Chinese Super League for two seasons. Earlier this year, after two major surgeries, Li Ke returned from injury. After a re-trial, he got a contract extension from the club.
Although he sat on the bench in the early stages of the league, Li Ke was quickly reused after Suarez's entry into Guoan and he is now the main back of Guoan. Li Ke, who comes from Arsenal's youth training system, is not only physically strong and has outstanding confrontation ability, but also has a very balanced offense and defense. He not only becomes the barrier in front of Guoan's backline, but also often sends exquisite passes to his teammates in the front line to create breakthrough opportunities.
Li Ke, like Fernando, also has high hopes of returning to the national team as he has performed well in the recent league matches. It is believed that his ability and technical characteristics can play a very important role in the national football team and South Korea's preseason group stage.
