China national soccer team
The first training session kicked off on January 12th. At this stage, the team's focus is on physical fitness, so the coaches have not yet defined their roles. However, as the national team departs for Japan, it is expected that about half of the coaches will leave the team, and these coaches may be the same ones responsible for guiding the second team or second group of trainers in Shanghai.
The so-called "first team and second team" or "one group and two groups" division, in fact, in January 14, the second batch of players reported to the deadline, the team will be divided into two groups. Players expected to participate in the Top 12 will be concentrated in a group, most of the players in this group have had the experience of the Top 12. The other group will consist mainly of newly recruited young players who are less likely to play in the Big 12.
This grouping strategy is not difficult to understand. Players who have not been tested in the Top 12 are hardly able to truly appreciate the difficulty of the tournament, especially the immense psychological pressure that not everyone can withstand. One of the key reasons why the national team performed better in the two matches in the UAE in November last year, compared to the matches in September and October, is that after the first four matches in real life, the players have obviously adapted to the rhythm and intensity of the Top 12 tournament.
For the coaching team that just took over, in such a short period of time, they may tend to "use familiar not to use raw", that is, use the past lineup to ensure the stability of the transition. For Li Xiaopeng coaching team, they also lack the experience of the 12 strong match, which is the same as their participation in the 20 years ago.
World Cup
The experience is far away. Therefore, in terms of players, it is wise to stabilize and use more veterans to complete the two games in front of us, and then replace the old with the new after the transition period.
The move may also reveal why so many players were called up. On the one hand, through the training, all the suitable players in China will be gathered together, so that the coaching team can easily observe them closely; on the other hand, according to the requirements of the coaching team, the national team hopes to arrange two high-quality warm-up matches before going to Japan. However, due to the current anti-epidemic policy, it is not possible to invite foreign strong teams to China to accompany the training, nor can they arrange warm-ups abroad. In the past, the Chinese Super League and Chinese First Division teams accompanied the training, because the 2021 season has just ended, the club teams are basically on vacation, and can not be the opponent of the warm-up matches.
Therefore, the national team has called up a large number of players and grouped them together, in fact, in order to allow people to play the role of "accompanying the prince", assisting the other half of the players to complete the two warm-up matches in order to adjust to the state of affairs. Of course, players who perform well in the warm-up matches may also be added to the list for the trip to Japan.
As for the follow-up, it will have to wait until after rounds 7-8 of the 12-team tournament, with the priority now being to prepare for the upcoming Japan-China and Vietnam-China matches.
