The Chinese Super League break is here and the national team will be taking part in various competitions, among which the Chinese soccer tournament is still in the limelight. According to the schedule, the national team will play two matches against old rival Syria and strong team Malaysia in September. On September 9 at 19:30 BST, China will face Malaysia; on September 12, China will face Syria, both games will be played in Chengdu and open to fans.
Over the past decade or so, the national soccer team has not improved, but instead has aged badly and the replacement of the old and the new has been hampered. Comparatively speaking, Syria and Malaysia have improved more significantly. Malaysia, in particular, have been able to match Thailand, beating them in the 2023 Southeast Asian Championship. Syria, on the other hand, have beaten the national soccer team in the World Qualifiers. If these matches had been played more than a decade ago, the national football team would have been almost certain of victory.
As a result, the national men's soccer team is no longer sure of victory against these two teams, and the win-loss situation is close to equilibrium. At the end of August this year, the national men's soccer team announced its roster of 24 players for the September training session. This roster further develops an aging trend due to the fact that many of the younger players were unable to participate in important matches for the National Men's Soccer Team's youth teams, the Asian Games Soccer Team and the National Olympic Team. Leaders such as Eckerson, Wu Lei and Zhang Linpeng were able to make the cut in this roster, and the average age of the team reached 30 years old, while the oldest player was already 34 years old, and the youngest player was 26 years old.
According to the roster, Shanghai Seaports lost to the 8th place team of the Thai Premier League in the AFC Champions League playoffs, which became a share of shame for the leaders of the Chinese Super League. Shanghai Seaports have made a huge contribution to the Chinese national soccer team by sending eight players, namely Yan Junling, Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng, Xu Xin, Jiang Guangtai, Wang Shenchao, Li Shuai and Wei Zhen. Most of these are starters for the national team, and in coach Jankovic's tactics, the veterans play an important role through the strategy of working out and honing their skills. With this situation in mind, the national team's starting lineup has been initially revealed for the two September matches, led by Wu Lei and three nationality switchers.
Wu Lei and Ackerson are likely to partner in the striker position, while Wu Xi, Li Ke, Lin Liangming and Chen Pu will form the midfield four. At the back, Li Lei, Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Guangtai and Wang Shenchao will take up the responsibility of the four defenders, while the goalkeeper position will be taken up by Yan Junling. This formation is a regular tactical play for Jankovic to deal with the challenges of teams like Malaysia and Syria. Previously, Jankovic has successfully led the national soccer team to victories over Myanmar and Belestan with similar formations.
The 24-player roster for this edition of the national soccer team includes Liu Dianzha, Deng Hanwen, Xie Pengfei, Gao Junyi, Wang Dalei, Sun Guowen, Chen Pu, Wei Zhen, Wang Shenchao, Li Shuai, Yan Junling, Wu Lei, Xu Xin, Zhang Linypeng, Ekerson, Jiang Guangtai, Wang Shangyuan, Li Ke, Li Lei, ZiMing, Wang Qiuming, Barton, Wu Xi, and Lin Liangming. Liu Yang, who performed well in the last period, was not selected because he was called up by the national soccer Asian Games team to compete in the Asian Games as an overage player. Barton, who was selected for the National Football Asian Games team as an overage player in the last training session, was dropped by Djurdjevic, so Barton returned to the national team squad, with Barton sidelining Taishan's Liu Binbin. Let's hope that this edition of the national soccer team training will continue the form of the previous edition and keep the winning streak.
