September 20, Sharjah time zone.
China national soccer team
Ongoing training at the Sharjah Club training base. The head of our epidemic prevention working group, Qi Jun, faced a media interview detailing the organization of the team's epidemic prevention measures.
Qi Jun revealed, "The long training session in Sharjah for the national team and the FA's workforce was a major challenge, and never before has there been such a long period of centralized training. Fortunately, there was a short stay in Sharjah in June, accumulating experience, making this response more comfortable. The global neoguana outbreak is not yet under control, and the situation in West Asia varies from country to country, with the number of neoguana patients in the UAE still high, which puts a lot of pressure on our team. We have optimized our anti-epidemic policies and are striving to reduce our exposure to the outside world."
national soccer team
This time, the Novotel Convention Center Hotel was booked in Sharjah as the residence of the whole delegation. Qi Jun said, "Our hotel is small but cozy, and we chartered it for epidemic prevention and safety reasons. Although the space is limited, it is enough to keep us isolated from the outside world. The staff, drivers, etc. live in the hotel and live with us. Nucleic acid tests are conducted every 3-6 days to ensure the safety of the people in the hotel. The entire team recuperates and beach activities are done collectively to avoid too much contact with the outside world. This is in line with the 'tournament bubble management' promoted by the AFC, and will be used in the future if home matches are held in the country to ensure safety against epidemics."
According to the schedule, on October 7 our team will play against Vietnam as the home team. In this regard, Chi Jun said, "On October 7, we will face Vietnam at home. Upon the arrival of the Vietnamese team in the UAE, we will introduce the 'tournament bubble management' model to the Vietnamese team to ensure that it is fully implemented upon their arrival. Everyone, including AFC officials and referees, will adopt this management model."
In addition, Chi Jun said the delegation is learning about Saudi Arabia's anti-epidemic policy to ensure a smooth transfer to Jeddah. "After the tournament, the team will be transferred to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Currently we are actively learning about the Saudi anti-epidemic policy, and overall their policy is also quite strict and will be in the form of 'tournament bubble management'. The overall anti-epidemic requirements are likely to be further increased, including strict rules for the team's entry into Saudi Arabia, testing upon landing, and waiting for test results at the hotel."
However, the toughest challenge, according to Chi Jun, is how the team will return home. "During the Top 40, we flew from Dubai to Shanghai, and the tests were very strict to make sure we didn't bring risks back home when we entered the country."
When asked about the proportion of the team's more than 500 pieces of luggage that consisted of anti-epidemic supplies, Qi Jun replied, "Our luggage consists of anti-epidemic supplies prepared for three months of living overseas, about 60 pieces, including masks, face masks, disinfectants and so on. We were worried that the supplies purchased abroad would not meet the requirements, but now it seems that we may not be able to use them all."
