Qatar will be hosting the 2023 Asian Cup in the near future and the national soccer team is currently making their final preparations. According to media reports, the national soccer team is scheduled to depart from Abu Dhabi at noon local time on January 7 and head to Doha for the official start of the Asian Cup.
The national soccer team has not been good in their recent warm-up matches. Before that, they lost to Oman and even to Hong Kong. Although they beat their opponents 6-2 in their last warm-up match before leaving the UAE, there is no reference value considering that the opponents were just low-level local teams. The only thing worth celebrating is that the national soccer team won a match, and some players and coaches gained a lot of confidence because of the victory. However, in the previous matches against Oman and Hong Kong, China, the national soccer team lost with extremely ugly scenes. Although the national soccer team's Asian Cup opponents can't be said to be as strong as they are, they are also among the elite teams in Asia. It's hard to believe that the national soccer team can play well in the tournament from the performance of their previous warm-up matches and this closed match.
Of course, as a coach, Jankovic was very satisfied with the performance in the last match. At the last Asian Cup, the national soccer team finished in the top 8. At that time, the team beat Thailand in the top 16. But today, it is hard to believe that the national soccer team can perform as well as they did four years ago. Compared with 2019, the strength of this group of players has actually not improved, and even gradually declined, plus the ability of the manager is not as good as that of Lippi at that time, and taking into account the current domestic soccer environment is very unsatisfactory, we have a good idea in our hearts about what kind of results this team can actually achieve.
Strictly speaking, the fact remains that the group stage groupings of national soccer teams are still very good. Whether it's Tajikistan or Lebanon, the national soccer teams of both countries have the strength to carry out the first world war. Even a team like Qatar is obviously not as impenetrable as Japan, South Korea or Iran. But the most embarrassing problem right now is that the national soccer team always refreshes the fans' lower perceptions, and there are almost no opponents that they dare not lose. Therefore, fans shouldn't be too surprised once the national soccer team actually fails to advance.
In fact, the FA has never set a target for the Asian Cup for the national soccer team. Of course, as things stand, group qualification is the minimum requirement for fans. However, considering that the national soccer team is currently ranked 11th in Asia, if they can finish in the top 8, they have already overachieved.
China's national soccer team currently has only one foreign player, Jiang Guangtai, and Wu Lei, who was a starter, returned to China last year, so there is no longer a single player playing in the top five leagues in the national team's lineup. Compared with South Korea and Japan, China's national team is relatively weak, so don't expect too much in this Asian Cup.
