During the Mid-Autumn Festival, our men's soccer team delivered holiday greetings to fans across the country during an intense training session in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
head coach
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
A video of the blessing was also shared on the social media platform, which read, "Our national men's soccer team, in the UAE, wishes the people of our motherland a happy Mid-Autumn Festival."
Although the national football players training overseas are unable to enjoy their vacation, the logistics team has specially prepared mooncakes to ensure a festive atmosphere for the players. However, given the high calorie and sugar content of the mooncakes, stakeholders reminded the players to savor them in moderation.
Target Vietnam, vow to get three points
The national soccer team has been training and playing overseas for nearly a month, and is now preparing for the Round of 12 matches against Vietnam and Saudi Arabia in October.
Following unexpected losses to Australia and Japan, there was a lot of anticipation for the match between the national soccer team and Vietnam - traditionally viewed as the underdogs, the national soccer team deserved to win.
Sports Weekly reporter Ma Dexing was one of the few media people who had the opportunity to cover Sharjah in person during the epidemic, and he revealed that - on the 19th - the national football team held an internal meeting, and the attitude towards the Vietnam match was that it had to be a win, and there was no other choice.
"It is reported that at the meeting, both the CFF and the coaching staff ended up with a very consistent and clear idea that the match against Vietnam on October 7 is not a multiple choice question but a task that must be accomplished, i.e., they must take all three points."
It is reported that in the summary of the first two losses and look forward to the game against Vietnam, the national football team that the first two losses is due to their own "hard power" is not enough, while against Vietnam is different, although in recent years, the national football technical and tactical level has declined, but not even the Vietnamese team have lost.
Over the past 20 years, our men's soccer team has never lost to Vietnam, and neither the players, coaches nor the Football Association would like to go down in the history of the national soccer team with a "bad name".
Of course, there's also the reason that if they still can't get three points against Vietnam, their chances of advancing in this Round of 12 may be virtually gone.
Striker Zhang Yuning expressed his determination to beat Vietnam in an interview, "During this period of time, we have a more targeted setup for Vietnam in the midfield and front, including the backfield, and based on their characteristics, I feel very confident that we can take down the opponent and that we can play a very exciting game."
The height advantage, is it sustainable?
Looking at the FIFA rankings and past records with Vietnam, the national soccer team has the absolute advantage.
In September's FIFA rankings for the 12-team tournament, for example, the national soccer team was ranked 71st, ahead of Vietnam's 92nd place. The last three matches between the two sides saw the national soccer team beat Vietnam 3-0 in a friendly match in 2012, and before that, the national soccer team also beat Vietnam twice, 2-1 and 6-1, in the qualifying stage of the Asian Cup.
However, such an advantage is not absolute - Vietnam's soccer has come a long way in recent years, especially at the 2019 Asian Cup, where Vietnam, who stayed in the same hotel as the national team in Abu Dhabi, also reached the last eight, before they were knocked out decently by Japan 1-0 on penalties in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, Vietnam also knocked out Jordan on penalties and lost just 2-3 and 0-2 in the group stage against Iraq and Iran, two West Asian powerhouses that seem to be completely out of the same physical class.
The national football team and Vietnam match the outside world that the biggest advantage lies in the body, but have had the experience of playing with Iraq, Iran, Vietnam treats the power play team is not afraid - September home to face Australia, Vietnam finally 0-1 small loss, the team has also accumulated enough experience.
How much of an advantage does the National Football League really have in height and strength? This still needs to be a question mark.
Be wary of Vietnam's "psychological warfare"
Of course, it is due to the improvements visible to the naked eye over the years that Vietnam's own mentality has subtly changed.
During this time, the Vietnamese media has also been repeatedly reporting on catchy fake news like the national football team's sky-high hotel prices, as well as speculating about the national football team's naturalized players' unstable mentality perhaps due to the economic crisis of the Evergrande Group.
Behind all this psychological warfare is a sign of Vietnam's own mentality of wanting to win but not having a handle on it.
For the national football team, it needs to strategically trivialize the opponent - both the management, coaching staff and players have expressed their determination to defeat Vietnam. But tactically the national soccer team still needs to pay attention to the opponent, especially the team's own mastery of technical and tactical skills and mentality, which will determine the final result against Vietnam.
Especially the psychological level of the game, Vietnam wants to add another best footnote to their progress over the years by defeating the national football team, and their eagerness to win is obvious.
But the national soccer team is also carrying a lot of pressure, especially the mentality of having to beat Vietnam, which is reminiscent of the background before the match against Syria during the last Top 12 tournament - National Day 2016 - and if the players play with such a burden, the consequences will undoubtedly be worrisome... ...
Technically and tactically, from the first game of the 4-4-2 to the second game of the 5-3-2, different formations behind the different signals and tactical requirements of the game, the head coach Li Tie also need to quickly clear up the gains and losses of the first two games, to find more suitable for the national football team to play in the final 12 of the tactics.
