Summary: The National Football League (NFL) needs to learn to choose and 'win the games it deserves'.
On New Year's Day, January 1, 2024, Chinese soccer stopped its fans once again - the national soccer team training in Abu Dhabi, UAE, lost 1-2 to Hong Kong, China, in a closed warm-up match and after 38 years. In addition, the national soccer team also suffered three red cards for impulsive behavior, which can be considered a loss.
On the first day of the New Year, no one was happy, as fans and netizens once again began a pattern of bombardment; some even mentioned that after the national soccer team lost to Hong Kong, China in Beijing, fans vented their frustration, creating the "National Soccer Team Black May 19th" incident.
The national soccer team lost 1-2 to Hong Kong, China in a warm-up match in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
However, the author believes that the national soccer team lost to Hong Kong, China team is a "normal strength" of the embodiment of the current national soccer team is located in the end of Asia's second-rate, the game is very low margin for error, losing to any opponent is normal. In particular, the outside world on the national soccer warm-up game losses do not have to "too serious", one is the strength of the real limited, the other is the national soccer team need to learn to choose, "to win should win the game".
Losing to Hong Kong is really embarrassing
In my opinion, we can accept the loss of the national soccer team in the warm-up matches, as well as the loss to Hong Kong, China, which is ranked far below ourselves in the world. However, it is unacceptable to lose in this way - a loss that not only exposes the national soccer team's lack of strength, but also shows that there are fatal flaws in the team's mental control and the players' mental stability. This is even more alarming than the loss.
Hong Kong, China had a great game.
At the technical and tactical level, the national soccer team began to sacrifice the 442 two striker formation, some big. After all, although the strength of Hong Kong, China is lower than the national soccer team, but the national soccer team's overall strength, but also not sure to cut the melon and steadily win. At this time, the coach Yang Kovic use Tan Long and Wu Lei's double center forward combination, more or less neglected the control and defense of the midfield, giving Hong Kong, China more opportunities. Hong Kong, China striker Pan Peixuan scored two goals and eventually turned the game around 2-1.
After the match, Hong Kong, China striker Pan Peixuan took to social media to troll the rough style of the national soccer team.
In addition to losing the game, the national soccer team's rough style, continuous red cards, really lost. Midfielder Wang Shangyuan and defender Wu Shaochong received red cards for their "Shaolin Soccer" rough play. Assistant coach Pelovic was not happy with the referee's decision, but he had no choice but to leave the field after the red cards were shown. In my opinion, the root cause of these three red cards is a lack of skill: the defenders could only break up the opponent's attack by committing fouls because they could not keep up with the opponent's rhythm and speed; the assistant coach could not maintain a stable attitude, which led to the red card.
It's more important to see behind the loss
After losing 0-2 to Oman in the previous round, the national soccer team lost 1-2 to Hong Kong, China on the first day of the Lunar New Year 2024, sweeping away fans' interest once again. It's easy to think: on the first day of the 2023 Lunar New Year, the national soccer team lost to Vietnam on the road, causing discontent and suspicion among fans across the country.
China's player Wu Lei (L) fights during a match on October 7, 2021 in China. On the same day, China beat Vietnam 3-2 in the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Asian Qualifiers in Sharjah, UAE. Published by Xinhua News Agency
Compared to last year's loss to Vietnam, the national soccer team lost to Hong Kong this year. First of all, the national soccer team's loss to Vietnam was an official match, the most crucial qualifier for the Asian World Cup, a real core tournament; the national soccer team's loss to Hong Kong, China, was an internal warm-up match, or not a closed live tournament, which was mainly to find the feeling for the next 2024 Asian Cup in Qatar.
Secondly, the national soccer team is in a low state, in addition to the subjective strength of the soldiers, mentality control defects, the objective level is also very bad - Hong Kong, China Super League is a New Year's Day system, which is currently in the league stage, Hong Kong, China players are completely in the state of the league; Super League is not a New Year's Day system, Super League as early as the end of November, the majority of the International players rested for nearly a month, nearly 60 days from the last official league, is not at all the state of the league.
Chinese fans cheer on the sidelines on November 21, 2023 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. On the same day, China lost 0-3 to South Korea in a Group C match of the 2026 Asian FIFA qualifier in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Xinhua News Agency's Liang Xu
Lastly, national soccer players are currently in a physical reserve phase where they are training at a very high intensity with devilish practices almost once a day. Ultimately, preparing players for the annual tournament is a typical winter training preparation period.
I learned that on the very day of the match, Jankovic also held an intensive training session for players who did not need to start. Apparently, the coaching staff's training program is completely centered on the Asian Cup, which will be held on January 12, rather than the friendly match against Hong Kong.
Need to win this game.
Jankovic coached the national soccer team to a loss to Hong Kong, China, and it reminded me of the same experience with his Serbian villagers and former Milo. Milo coached the national soccer team to participate in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan in the Asian World Cup top 10, in Shanghai to participate in four national invitational tournaments, the overall performance of the low. In the first round of matches, the national soccer penalty kicks lost to the North Korean team, fans on the spot to call for Milu's dismissal, the national soccer team can only lurk from Shanghai back to Shenyang.
On August 29, 2001, Milutinovic, head coach of the Chinese national football team, held a short briefing after the training. According to Milu, the local weather conditions did not affect the players too much, and Milu was satisfied with the players' training. Xinhua News Agency (digital facsimile photo)
At the time, even Yan Shiduo of the CFA implicitly criticized Milu - he felt that the North Korean players had no logistical support, had extremely simple training equipment, and beat the Chinese men's football team to tears. Of course, Milu has a wealth of experience in World Cup progression, and he beat the fans who shouted for his dismissal and the officials who lacked professionalism with the final result.
In a top ten that really needed to be worked on, Milo led the national soccer team to almost play well enough to end up in the World Cup finals at this stage in their history. He also left behind the famous quote that Chinese soccer needs to win this game.
The results of the Asian Cup and World Cup can better validate and judge the level of the coaching staff and the strength of the players.
The authors believe that the national soccer team needs to lose to Hong Kong, China team to carry out a serious summary and deep reflection, especially in the psychological adjustment and foul control, in order to attract enough attention. At the same time, the national soccer team soldiers also need to "quiet" - as the Asian Cup three group matches is a high school entrance exam, including the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia is a big exam, the coaching staff need to focus on really grasp the size, highlighting The main contradiction, ignoring the details, ready to lose the inconsequential warm-up matches.
From the absence of the main goalkeeper Yan Junling from the national football team against Oman and Hong Kong, China, Yankovic obviously know. After all, the warm-up matches are more important to examine the performance of the players, especially the rotational players. Warm-up matches also have a lot of room for error - losses and technical and tactical mistakes in warm-up matches are within acceptable limits in order to ensure that fewer mistakes are made in official matches.
