On the 26th, the newly formed Chinese men's soccer team played its second warm-up match against the New Zealand national team in Wellington. Although Barton recovered a goal in the last minute, the national soccer team ended up playing 1 goal. ∶:2 loss. The last time the two sides shook hands in Auckland on the 23rd 0:0, the national football team ended the trip to New Zealand with 1 draw and 1 loss. 99-year-old Chinese U24 Asian Games team suffered two consecutive defeats, successively 0 consecutive defeats. ∶: 2, 1:2 loss to the New Zealand U22 national Olympic team.
Head coach Jankovic made minor adjustments to the starting lineup before the 26th game, Wu Shaocong, who was temporarily transferred to the national team from the Asian Games, entered the starting lineup and partnered with Zhu Chenjie at center back. Before the end of the first half, Zhu Chenjie in front of the release of free kick directly into their own goal, New Zealand 1:0 lead in the first half. New Zealand in the 80 minutes through the cooperation, the score will be 2 points. ∶In injury time, Sun Guowen crossed from the right, Barton's header recovered a goal for China.
After the game, head coach Jankovic said: "New Zealand's performance deserved to win, while China's performance in the first half was not good, so the loss was deserved. The reason why we didn't make any big changes to the squad for this match is because we wanted to see how fit the players would be when they played continuously for three days. Because we will face the situation of playing consecutive matches in three or four days in the future."
Jankovic said warming up with a physical, impactful and confrontational team like New Zealand would be very helpful in the formation of the team. "Because our goal is to reach the World Cup. I need to find 25 players before the World Cup qualifiers start. They are players who can fight continuously. So, although we didn't win on this trip to New Zealand, I think we have achieved our goal. Of course, no coach likes to lose."
Although the results of the new national football team's debut were not ideal, at least the team withstood the test of its spirit and style, and the team was still attacking with all its might for a goal in the final moments when it fell behind. Many fans also agree that it is obviously unrealistic at this stage to expect immediate results from a coaching change, and many of the new faces of the national football team are positive and will have the opportunity to stabilize the national team in the future.
According to the arrangement, the Chinese national team and the Asian Games will return to China on the 27th, then disbanded, the players will return to their clubs to prepare for the new league season. Jankovic said that after the return, his first priority will be to examine the league and prepare for the next training in June.The national team will also participate in two warm-up matches in China in June, and the opponents have not yet been determined.
