In the lineup of naturalized players who galloped for the national football team, Ackerson, Lok Kwok Foo & Allan have all made appearances. Allan's loyal attitude towards the national football team is well deserved.
However, due to the financial difficulties of the trio's former owners, Guangzhou FC, since September 2021, the three naturalized players left the country one after another after the two Top 12 matches last November.
On February 16th of this year, Guangzhou Football Club announced the release of several naturalized players from their contracts, including Alan. Since then, Ackerson and Lo Guofu have found new positions in Brazilian soccer, with Ackerson joining Brazilian second division Gremio and Lo Guofu playing for Barclays Premier League side Minero Americas.
Golat, meanwhile, bid farewell to Guangzhou even earlier, signing a deal with Barclays Premier League side Santos.
Only Fernando, 29, remains unemployed. He was injured in training last May during the National Football League's preparations for the 40-team tournament, and hasn't returned to the field since then, and has yet to sign with any team, making him the only naturalized player who hasn't found a new home.
Distance from the national soccer team grows
As naturalized players have been withdrawn from the Superliga and established themselves in the Brazilian league, they have become more and more disconnected from the national football team.
The CFA had called up three naturalized players for the two top-12 matches during the Chinese New Year, but Lo Guofu blasted the CFA on social media due to a sudden change in the flight from Brazil to Tokyo, while Fernando returned midway through the tournament due to a family illness.
In the two games since then, Luo Guofu and Alan have not brought substantial help to the national football team - in fact, the 1-3 loss away to Vietnam on the first day of the Lunar New Year was somehow related to the fact that head coach Li Xiaopeng put the two naturalized players, who had not yet completed their training, in the starting positions.
Entering March, the last two of the National Football League's twelve matches, naturalized players were not included in the list ...... Fernando has not played for the National Football League so far.
In late May this year, CCTV interviewed four naturalized players, all of whom expressed their desire to have the opportunity to represent China in the 2023 Asian Cup.
Ackerson said he misses spending time with his national teammates and hopes to make it through the year "so that he doesn't disappear from the view of Chinese fans, coaching staff and media." Allan, on the other hand, wants to join a league closer to China in order to juggle national team fixtures. Fernando, on the other hand, expressed strong expectations for his national team debut.
As things stand, the 2023 Asian Cup may be the last chance for Brazilian naturalized players to represent the national football team. However, with these players having left the Chinese Super League, the CFA has less binding power over the naturalized players, and participation will depend on individual wishes.
