Once the "hope of the village" of soccer in our country.
Wu Lei (1979-), Chinese footballer
The status in our national team speaks for itself. However, with the national football team about to travel to Qatar for the last two matches of the World Preliminary 12, the news of the possible non-recruitment of spreads, and interpretations from all sides come thick and fast. In fact, such a debate has no substantive meaning, but only provides a new point of contention for the outside world.
1. Temporary non-recruitment of non-abandonment
The fact that Wu Lei's name was missing from the initial 39-player training list released by the national team's coaching staff is in fact a hint or a signal. But this does not mean that the national team or the coaching staff has "abandoned" , but after comprehensive consideration to make a choice.
In a way, it's more for the protection of
Wu Lei (1979-), Chinese footballer
There's no need to go into too much detail about the status of our national team, especially its role in the current Top 12. the goals scored in the Top 40 and the Top 12 have been ample proof of that. So far, our team's only victory in the 12-team tournament relied on 's two goals at crucial moments. In the top scorer list, is still ranked first, tied with Iran's Taremi and Japan's Jun Ito with four goals. Under normal circumstances, no coach would choose to discard in this situation.
However, any player's form has its ups and downs, and it is impossible to maintain a high level all the time. The same is true of the situation that is currently facing. In the first half of the season, had a lot of chances to play for Espanyol, which allowed him to return to the national team in relatively good shape and keep scoring goals in the first half of the Top 12 matches. However, in recent times, has seen his appearances and time with the Spaniards dwindle to just participating in regular training, which is clearly not enough. In the two away matches against Japan and Vietnam on January 27 and February 1, 's performance was unsatisfactory to the extent that he had to be substituted in the second half of the match, which had a lot to do with the fact that he had played less matches for his club team.
Back at Espanyol after the match against Vietnam, things remain unchanged for . In the recent rounds of La Liga, only played in the garbage time on the field, or even sat on the bench for the whole 90 minutes. This will undoubtedly further affect 's form. In this case, if is still called up, both himself and the national team coaching staff may be under various kinds of pressure. On the contrary, not calling up for the time being will allow all parties to enter and exit freely.
2. Long-term perspective remains indispensable
In a way, there is nothing principled about the national team not considering calling up for the time being. First of all, under normal circumstances, the La Liga has one more round of matches on March 20, when the Spaniards will face Mallorca at home. Although has temporarily lost his starting position in the Espanyol team, the manager of the Espanyol team has not indicated that he has given up, so I'm afraid that he still can't be released early for this match. So, after the game, if rushes to Dubai to join the national team, it will be a night flight again, arriving early the next morning, and will have three days to practice with the team from March 21st to 23rd, and then play against Saudi Arabia on the 24th.
Assuming that Wu Lei continues to play against Saudi Arabia without any significant improvement in his form, I'm afraid that all sides will focus on Wu Lei again after the match. Because the current public opinion environment of the Chinese football team is "only look at the result not to look at the process", and even when continues to get goals for the national team, the outside world on all kinds of gossip and cold words have never stopped. Once continues to fail to perform well, all kinds of criticism and blame will be even more. Not only this, the national team coaching team will also become the target of criticism and blame, "in the case of knowing that can't be used, what is the coach's job?"
So, no matter what, or the coaching staff will be under more pressure. With 's character, once he has the chance to enter the field, he will definitely go all out in the game. And the more he wants to prove himself, the more unexpected actions will appear. Like on January 27th against Japan, got a yellow card. If he receives another yellow card on March 24 against Saudi Arabia, he will be automatically suspended for one match, undoubtedly against Oman. That would also put on track for an early end to his Round of 12 campaign. Returning to the from Europe, only to hit the road four or five days later, will probably further affect his situation with the Spaniards.
Assuming that there is no problem playing Saudi Arabia, but continuing to fight after arriving in Oman, might receive another yellow card. In this way, since the 12-team tournament is already over, 's suspension will affect the future 2023 tournament, due to the fact that, according to the relevant regulations, the automatic suspension for this 12-team tournament will then fall to the 2023 tournament, as it did when received a red card in the final 12-team match of the 2018 qualifying tournament in Russia, against Qatar, after which < Zheng Zhi> had to be suspended for the first match of the group stage of the 2019 . Obviously, this is even more unfavorable for our men's football team to play the 2023 tournament at home.
After weighing the pros and cons, the national team's coaching staff is afraid to look more to the future by not calling up for the time being.
After all, the next task for the national team is the 2023 Asian Cup, and both the renewal of the national team and others have been centered around this undisclosed goal. Including the four naturalized players to undergo physical testing, after politely rejected directly no longer call them into the team, this is in fact in preparation for the to the national team "set up the book". In contrast, Li Lei, who is also playing in Europe, only traveled to Europe in January this year, but has recently started to play continuously, which is why the national soccer team recalled him. This positive and negative example, in fact, is now very illustrative.
3. No need to over-interpret the non-conscription
From another point of view, although has been 32 years old, but as the only now in the five major leagues in our country's players, at least the continuation of the tournament at home in 2023 will not be too much of a problem. This time not to call up , also is hoping that he can find the right time to rise again in the club, but also to ease its pressure, the purpose is still to hope that he will be able to better fight for his country next.
And, the status of overseas players is somehow a pressure, but also a motivation. In the past, our players in the European league when playing, also had encountered situation, that is, temporarily unable to play in the club team, the national team continued to recruit. The outside world criticized the players, criticized the national team coach, that the national team can not be "fair and square", to give overseas players "one side of the net", to the national team to adjust the state. Now temporarily not called, and put the coaching staff on the cusp of the wind. No matter what, the outside world always have a variety of arguments, but the team must have the team's considerations.
And it's nothing new for overseas players to fall through the cracks. For example, Taremi, who is now playing for Porto, is one of the hottest scorers in the Portuguese Premier League, but he was not called up to the Iranian national team for the two rounds of qualifiers in November last year, during which Taremi's goal-scoring efficiency for Porto dropped drastically and he was once relegated to the bench. Of course, Taremi's interviews with Iranian national team manager Skorcic were also related to his temporary abandonment. This has also led to an outcry from Iranian fans and the media after Taremi was temporarily dropped from the Iranian team. But the temporary non-draft is not the same as abandonment. In the two rounds of the 12-team tournament in late January and February 1 this year, Taremi was recalled to the national team and scored in two matches against Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, helping the Iranian team to win 1-0, get six points, and confirm the ticket.
Therefore, from a professional point of view, I'm afraid that we still need to respect the coaching staff from a professional point of view to make choices, there is no need to over-interpretation. What's more, soccer is not a "game of words"!
