Barton will be named to the National Football League (NFL) Asian Games team, joining Tan Long and Gao Tianyi in the NFL Asian Games team's overage players lineup, according to a report from North Youth Sports.
According to the plan, the national soccer team and the Asian Games men's soccer team will start their new training on June 10, respectively. The training rosters for both teams were not announced until the evening of the 5th. There were a number of reasons for this, such as the fact that some candidates were injured in recent professional leagues and the need for national soccer coach Jankovic to fine-tune individual candidates on the rosters.
Prior to that, Zhang Linpeng, Wu Xi, and Zhang Yuning participated in joint training for the Men's Asian Games back at the end of last year. However, more than a year later, the team's coach changed from Jankovic to Djurdjevic, and Wu Xi and Zhang Yuning were injured and unable to participate in the national team's training and warm-up matches in June. The Men's Asian Games coaching staff will have to further expand the pool of candidates for overage players to include Wu Lei, Deng Hanwen, Jiang Guangtai and Tan Long.
After investigating the first 11 rounds of the first phase of the Chinese Super League, Djurdjevic has identified the candidates for the overage international players: striker Tan Long, Barton and midfielder Gao Tianyi. A striker for Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, Barton kept almost full time in the first 11 rounds of the Chinese Super League, scoring four goals and finishing with two assists. Barton returned to the national soccer team as one of three players before the team traveled to New Zealand for warm-ups at the end of March this year.
Looking at the individual characteristics of the three overage players, Djurdjevic's aim in drafting them is self-evident. From another perspective, Djurdjevic is generally pleased with the team's defense, led by Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Shenglong.
With only two international matchday cycles available before the Hangzhou Asian Games soccer tournament, the team will be focusing on the main Asian Games squad in warm-up matches. From now on, the senior candidates should not change too often, with Tan Long, Barton and Gao Tianyi likely to participate in the Asian Games as seniors.
