Despite the fact that our team is currently 11 points behind group leaders Saudi Arabia and six points adrift of third-placed Australia, and despite the fact that there are still four matches to be played in the group stage, it is no more than a theoretical possibility for our team to finish third in the group for a place in the play-offs, not to mention advancing to Qatar straight away with a top-two finish in the group.
World Cup
The final stage is up.
However, for
soccer league
For that matter, this is not the moment to immediately replace the head coach and rebuild the
national soccer team
The timing. Choosing a homegrown coach like Li Xiaopeng, in order to keep the
national soccer team
The stabilization of the team for a satisfying run in the next 12 games is a relatively sound strategy.
In the past six games, at least in Li Tie's opinion, our team can achieve the current results in the first six games of the 12-team tournament, which is already considered to be a mission accomplished.
According to the schedule.
China Super League (soccer league)
The second phase of the league will open on December 12 and conclude with the final round on January 4 of the following year, followed by the Super League play-offs and the
soccer league
Cup Final.
Since this year
soccer league
The two teams in the Cup final, Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Harbor, are both teams with a high concentration of international players, which means that the earliest we can wait until the
soccer league
After the Cup final, giving both teams' international players ample time to rest and recuperate, Li Xiaopeng will be able to really gather up all the players to prepare for the match with Japan in January next year.
The match against Japan is crucial: if our team loses, Japan, which currently has 12 points, will move up to 15 points, widening the points gap with us to 10 points, and with three matches left in the group stage, our team has practically lost the possibility of advancing directly.
What's more, if Australia wins the other game and our team loses to Japan, the difference between the two teams will be nine points. Our team, which was at a disadvantage with one draw and one loss in the two previous matches with Australia, will have its hopes of participating in the play-offs as the third team in the group dashed, and will be reduced to the sidelines of the 12-team tournament.
Even if it does come to that, for Li Xiaopeng and the
national soccer team
For them, the 12-team tournament is still not over. Because in their next match, they will face Vietnam, who have not scored a single goal so far, on the road.
Although our team won 3-2 in the first round of the match between the two teams, the key goal was scored by Wu Lei towards the end of the match, Li Tie's team did not show a significantly better strength and performance than their opponents in that match, while the Vietnamese team also pinned its hopes of getting the first point or even the first win in the 12-team tournament on the match, which was held during the Lunar New Year.
For our team, the goal of participating in the 12-team tournament is to avoid the bottom of the table and not to lose to Vietnam, which has never lost before. After Li Tie's dismissal, Vietnamese media also analyzed our team's prospects, arguing that if all four of our naturalized players do not participate in the
China Super League (soccer league)
League, then it is likely that they will not represent our team in the remaining four matches of the 12-team tournament either.
In addition, our team has just gone through a serious "turmoil" as coach Li Tie resigned due to a scandal outside of his profession, and his replacement Li Xiaopeng has only achieved 1 win, 8 draws, and 5 defeats in this season's mediocre Wuhan club. In this case, the possibility of Vietnam getting a point or even three points is gradually increasing - under the pressure of every step of the way, whether or not you can show your strength in the two matches against Japan and Vietnam will be crucial to Li Xiaopeng's ability to secure his place in the team.
national soccer team
The head coach's throne is crucial.
