Henan's Huang Zichang (R) fights for a header with Dalian's Lv Peng during a Chinese Super League match on May 20th.
May 23rd and May 24th, the 9th round of the Chinese Super League will be held 4 games:Shanghai Shenhua whether the backbone is not enough, the opening of the surprising exit from the title race, Shandong Taishan how to restore calm from impatience, Shanghai seaport home can successfully expand the Henan lead, is the focus of attention of the fans in this round. After all, the Chinese Super League has returned to the life of the fans.
Since the launch of the Chinese Super League on April 15, the league has gone through eight rounds and the test of two games a week never stops. Fortunately, there are only two weeks left in the first phase of the Chinese Super League season. By the end of the 12th round on June 9, the Super League will have its first break. The restart of the 13th round of the league is on June 28th. In the past 20 days, most of the Chinese Super League players can enjoy a short break, but the Chinese brand players will have two more "intense" international A-grade matches.
The official website of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced last week that the national football team will face visiting Myanmar and Palestine on June 16 and June 20 at the Barracuda Bay Professional Football Stadium in Dalian. According to AFC standards, these two international invitational matches are international A-level tournaments, which have a bearing on the national team's points ranking, so the national soccer team naturally can't ignore them.
Now, the "pressure" came to the national team coach Yankovic. In the face of the first phase of the league to bring their own problems, Yankovic's "solution" will be directly related to the national football team in half a year after whether it is easy to embark on the 2026 U.S., Canada and Mexico World Cup tour.
The first dilemma is the aggravation of injuries to multiple candidates at the back.
This round of Henan team at home 11:0 force over Dalian finally ushered in the first victory of the season, but the main back Wang Shangyuan in the 15th minute fell to the ground due to injury. At the end of the half, he was sent to the hospital by ambulance. After the match, Henan announced that Wang Shangyuan suffered multiple ligament injuries in his right ankle and multiple cystic changes and edema in the joint. It is expected to be out of action for 3 weeks. On March 23 this year, the national football team played a warm-up match in Auckland and New Zealand. Wang Shangyuan replaced Wu Xi's performance is acceptable - the original position of the back of the national football team's personnel reserves are still quite rich, did not expect the main back of Wu Xi at the end of April in the "Shanghai Bund Derby" in the toe fracture. The injury report shows that the recovery period needs about 8 cycles, which means that Wu Xi and Wang Shangyuan can both in the national training can not participate.
The second dilemma is how to match up the forward combinations.
So far, Yankovic's choices are relatively limited: 32-year-old Hong Kong striker Wu Lei ranked second with 6 goals, 28-year-old Tianjin Jinmenhu Barton ranked third with 4 goals, and among the top 20 scorers with 3 goals, only 37-year-old Yan Xiangguan, 36-year-old Yu Hanchao, 33-year-old Gaudi, 30-year-old Zhang Wei and 34-year-old Eckerson made the list. In view of the impact of more powerful Zhang Yuning temporarily due to injury can not participate in the game, the national football team in the next two international A-level games in the front line combination will inevitably encounter "aging" trouble. Previous intercontinental matches played by the national soccer team have shown that once the goal scoring speed is increased.
It is only natural that foreign aiders "rule" the top scorers in the Chinese Super League. "Local players control the defense, foreign aid control goals" is also a common phenomenon that has always existed in the professional league. But apart from the foreigners, the fans don't see the sprouting and development of local strikers, which really affects the national team's performance. Back in April this year and New Zealand's two warm-up matches, Wu Lei, Wei Shihao, Chen Pu, Lin Liangming, Tan Long and other frontline players two zero goals, Barton in the extra period of the only goal is to hit a header.
Due to the expansion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final round to 48 teams, the final 12 Asian qualifiers were "upgraded" to 18, with the number of team places almost doubled to 8.5: 6 teams straight up through the 18 (3 groups), 2 teams through the Asian play-offs, and the remaining one team in the intercontinental play-offs. . For the current Asian ranking of the 11th national football team, although the probability of "out of the line" than the previous qualifiers did increase, but the value of this "green and yellow", both the middle generation of players or the new generation of players, lack of sufficient competitiveness. The objective conditions of "right place, right time, and right people" are needed to get out of the tournament.
After attending the Asian Cup draw in Doha, Jankovic returned to China. In the last two weeks, he went to several Chinese super players. This round of the Tian Jinmen Tiger home 3: he was there to watch the goal battle in Shandong Taishan. The end of the 12th round of the league, the new national football training team went to Dalian assembly preparation. The national football team in the league break "problem solving" way with the pre-season warm-up games in New Zealand is very different: player fatigue and injuries, the use of naturalized players, the team's structure and tactical arrangements are in the coaching team within the scope of consideration.
"The country has a lot of support and investment in soccer, but we have yet to see the national team improve in terms of results. I don't want to boast that I can lead the national team to victory, but I will show you some changes." In a recent interview with a professional media outlet, Jankovic reiterated his approach to taking over the national team - good results don't just "fall out of the sky". All he can do is focus on the players who are willing to contribute wholeheartedly to the national team, and then show those players their grit and determination.
