According to the scheduled program, China's national soccer team will embark on a journey to the practice site of Saudi Arabia's Ittihad Salon at 00:30 GMT on the 11th, to start the first outdoor training after arriving in Jeddah. At present, it seems that all 32 players in our team are expected to participate in this training, including Zhu Chenjie, Wang Dalei, Li Lei, Wang Gang and other players who are absent due to injury. Combined with the first three rounds of the 12 rounds of the game, the coaching team has been the next round of opponents Saudi Arabia's technical and tactical characteristics of a comprehensive analysis of how to limit the opponents of the speed of the advantages of the team in China in this limited preparation time must overcome the key problem.
Our team delegation departed from Dubai, UAE in the afternoon of October 9 and arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the afternoon of the same day. As it was already after 5:00 p.m. when we arrived at the resident hotel, coupled with the fact that all team members had to undergo nucleic acid testing in accordance with the local epidemic prevention regulations and be isolated and observed in their respective rooms, there was no outdoor training arranged for the day of the 9th.
As planned, the team will have its first outdoor training session since arriving in Jeddah on the evening of October 10 at the very same practice site of the Etihad Salon, a veteran Saudi salon.
It is reported that during the preparation stage in Sharjah, UAE, Li Lei, Zhu Chenjie and Wang Dalei were unable to take part in the training due to injuries, and they also missed the match between China and Vietnam in the 3rd round of the 12th round. However, after a period of convalescence, their physical condition has basically recovered. Unsurprisingly, they will participate in the outdoor training on the evening of the 10th.
The injury of Wang Gang, the main right back who retired due to injury in the China-Vietnam match, is also under control, and after recuperation, his physical condition has also improved significantly, and he is also expected to return to the team's training ground. The coaching staff will have to decide whether he will be able to practise together or not according to the actual situation.
Together with the training on the night of the 10th, our team will only have two outdoor training opportunities before facing Saudi Arabia on the 12th. It can be said that the time left for the whole team to adapt to the local environment and perfect their technical and tactical play is very limited. Therefore, the coaching team needs to try to seize the key points in these two training sessions.
In fact, before turning to Jeddah, our team's coaching team has already combined all kinds of information provided by the intelligence team to have a detailed understanding of the recent situation of the Saudi team, especially the situation of the first three rounds of the Top 40 and the Top 12 matches, as well as a detailed analysis of the ability and characteristics of the main players.
In addition, the Chinese international referees who traveled to West Asia to participate in the Top 12 and the knockout round of the Asian Championship West Asia Region during the same period also shared some insights about the game of the Saudi team. The consensus was that the Saudi team's speed advantage is very obvious in both offense and defense. Taking the Saudi Arabia's victory over Japan as an example, the winning goal they scored was due to the efficiency of quick counterattack after breaking the opponent's turnover ball, which deserves great attention from our team.
Since the members of our team delegation stayed at the resident hotel after arriving in Jeddah, they did not have much of a real feel for the local climate characteristics before heading to the practice field. However, a team member revealed that he could actually feel the heat and humidity of the local climate even during the short walk from the bus to the hotel gate. Our team did not show any physical advantage when playing against China, and facing the Saudi team, which is good at playing in hot and humid climate conditions, the physical consumption of our players may be even greater. It is necessary for all members of our team to be well prepared.
