Some young players who performed well in the league last season, such as Hebei's Zhang Wei, Dalian's Lin Liangming, and Shandong Taishan's Chen Pu and Fang Hao, are not on the list.
The national soccer training list exposed by the media also reveals two signals: first, the players who will train with the national team in New Zealand are all regulars of the national team, and no new players have been selected. This also seems to imply that the national training team will be led by Li Xiaopeng.
That's because the national soccer team doesn't have time to wait until a new coach is in place to start training. After all, there are only six months left before the opening of the 2023 Asian Cup.
Secondly, there are only 21 players with only 21 players, almost a third less than before. Who will be left with the empty quota has also caused speculation among fans. Some say it's reserved for naturalized players, while others say that when the new coach takes over, he'll personally pick from the Chinese Super League and Central League clubs.
While the authenticity of the latest national training team list has not been confirmed, the FA must start taking action. Otherwise, the Chinese men's soccer team may not perform well at this year's Asian Cup and Asian Games, which will only make the environment for Chinese soccer worse, right?
