Late at night on January 8, Beijing time, the Chinese Football Association unveiled the new national soccer team list, a huge lineup of 52 people. Shortly after, well-known soccer commentator Ma Dexing wrote an in-depth analysis of the list, and revealed that the number of players in Shanghai training will not exceed 46.
Five naturalized players figure prominently in this 52-player list. Even though Ackerson, Luo Guofu and others have been released from their contracts with Guangzhou and returned to Brazil, Li Xiaopeng's coaching team still included them in the training list. However, according to the analysis of Ma Dexing, among the five naturalized players, only Jiang Guangtai is expected to participate in the Shanghai training, and the rest of the four are not likely to be involved. If the final list of travelers includes the likes of Ackerson, they will have to fly directly from Brazil to Japan to join the main force.
Madsen further pointed out that naturalized players such as Iverson will have to undergo 14+7 isolation measures if they want to arrive before the national team's training session in Shanghai, and it will be difficult for them to make it even if they leave immediately. If they end up participating in the World Cup with the team, they will have to travel from Brazil to Japan to join the national team, but their physical condition will still be unknown at that time.
In addition, Madsen revealed that the National Team Management Department has been in contact with these naturalized players and expects them to fulfill their commitment and preferably arrive in Tokyo to join the team when the national team arrives in Japan on January 23rd.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the above four naturalized players can not participate in the Shanghai training, two foreign players Wu Lei and Li Lei also can not participate. They will fly from Europe to Tokyo to meet up with the national team when the 12-team tournament comes around. Ma Dexing said, this means that in the released 52-man list, at most only 46 players will focus on training in Shanghai.
It is reported that the national team plans to play an internal teaching match on January 16, and whether the match will remain in a fully closed format is yet to be confirmed by the coaching staff. (Source: DD)
