Jankovic's national soccer team was late for his debut. In a warm-up match against Meizhou Hakka, the national soccer team staged a 1-0 shutout with Wu Lei's assist on Lin Liangming's goal, earning their first win under Jankovic's coaching. It is worth mentioning that after this game, the national soccer team was abandoned by two big names, Ren Hang and Jiang Guangtai. It is evident that Jankovic is indeed a pragmatic coach with heavy form and light fame.
In preparation for the Asian Cup and the World Cup, and even a warm-up match against New Zealand, the national soccer team officially announced Kovic as the new head coach in February, and the first training session of the new national soccer team started on the first of this month, located in Haikou. In order to get the players into game shape faster, Jankovic also used the opportunity of training in Haikou to schedule two warm-up matches. Unfortunately, the warm-up match with Wuhan Sanzhen on the 10th was canceled because the latter already had a date with Yatai. This also shows the inefficiency of the FA. After so many days of training, we knew our opponents had other arrangements at the end of the fight. As a last resort, Jankovic had to arrange a domestic team.
Three days later, the national soccer team finally welcomed its first warm-up opponent for this training. -Compared with the Super League champions Three Town, Meizhou Hakka team's strength is naturally inferior. Last season's ninth place in the Chinese Super League is proof of that. However, even against a mid-tier Super League team in pre-season preparation, the national soccer team didn't play with much substance, winning 1-0 only by Wu Lei's first-half goal assisted by Lin Liangming. Naturally, such a scoreline will not please Jankovic. In the future training, Jankovic will surely focus on solving the problems exposed in this game.
Meanwhile, the national soccer team is preparing for the next warm-up tournament in New Zealand. As Jiang Guangtai and Ren Hang have been injured before and unable to train with the whole team, they will return to their clubs to rest after this warm-up instead of traveling with the team to Guangzhou and New Zealand. They also become the other two big names that Jankovic dumped due to their health condition after Eickson. The main reason for Eickson's previous departure from the team was his lack of fitness and athleticism.
