In order to enhance the national football team's practical skills for the Round of 12, the coaching team plans to organize a number of warm-up matches for the team during the preparation period in Sharjah. According to the news on September 16, Beijing time, the head coach of the Syrian team, Mahrous, publicly released that the Syrian team will start a warm-up match with our team on September 30th.
Observing the recent training program of the national football team, it is clear that the team is preparing for participation in the warm-up matches. Young defender Zhu Chenjie revealed in an interview that the players were so tired that they could hardly speak after the intense training in the humid climate. However, since they realize the gap between them and the strongest teams, training hard becomes especially important.
Internal Teaching Competition Helps to Improve
Li Tie, the head coach of the national football team, has repeatedly emphasized that the Chinese team is in dire need of high-quality warm-up matches, especially international warm-up matches, in order to test the results of training and improve the ability to fight in competitions. For this reason, the CFA has been actively contacting opponents to help the national football team arrange as many warm-up matches as possible.
Considering that the team needs time to strengthen the physical reserves and technical and tactical drills respectively after a few days of rest, the execution of international warm-up matches also needs to wait. In addition, the Chinese team will face Vietnam and Saudi Arabia in the first half of October, the 12 strong match, the protection of players is particularly important. In the case of just resuming outdoor training, the team should not participate in high-intensity international warm-up matches.
After comprehensively considering various factors, the coaching staff decided to properly arrange internal teaching matches, and the first teaching match was held on the evening of the 16th local time, with the match taking place in a simulated environment of the Top 12 tournament.
Warm-up opponents locked in Syria
In fact, in addition to this internal teaching match, the Chinese team will have to play about three warm-up matches, including international warm-up matches with local clubs and teams not in the same group of the 12-team tournament, before facing Vietnam in the third round of the 12-team tournament on October 7th.
In the early hours of Beijing time on the 16th, the head coach of Syria, a team in Group A of the 12th round of the tournament, Mahrous confirmed that he will play a warm-up match against China on the 30th. Before arriving in Sharjah, the Chinese team has contacted a number of AFC member associations, including the Syrian Football Association (SFA), through the national football team's forward foreign affairs working group, in the hope of playing a warm-up match with them in West Asia. Among the many member associations, the Syrian Football Association responded most positively. As the Syrian team will have their home ground in Amman, Jordan, they can easily travel to and from countries in West Asia.
Mahrous took over as head coach of Syria from Tunisia's Maroul just after the 40-team tournament. In the first two rounds of the Round of 12, Syria lost to Iran and drew with the UAE. Next, they will also face South Korea and Lebanon in their Round of 12 matches. Therefore, they are also in great need of targeted warm-up matches, and the Chinese team from the East Asia Region is undoubtedly their most valuable warm-up opponents before the away match against South Korea. Therefore, the Chinese and Syrian Football Associations decided to arrange a warm-up match between the two teams.
It is worth noting that the Chinese team had been in the same group with Syria in the Top 40, so the two teams are more familiar with each other. However, with the recent return of Soma and other key players to the Syrian lineup, the team's strength has improved significantly, and playing against them will also help improve the quality of the national soccer team's warm-up.
Zhu Chenjie: Train hard to prepare for the competition
In an interview with the media, Zhu Chenjie also said that the current hard training is precisely to prepare for the high-intensity, fast-paced warm-up matches and Top 12 matches later. He said, "We sometimes train once a day, sometimes twice a day. After training, everyone is usually too tired for words. Affected by the epidemic, we have been training abroad for a long period of time and staying in hotel rooms for a long period of time, which has brought us great physical and mental difficulties and caused mental fatigue. But we will try to overcome the difficulties and get ready for the preparation by making adjustments. The team is now moving in the right direction."
