According to the plan, our national team delegation, with close to 80 members, will depart from the hotel in Shanghai on the night of August 25th, Beijing time, and take a chartered flight to Doha, Qatar on August 26th, just after 1:00 a.m. Beijing time, to take part in the first and second rounds of the World Preliminary Round Asian Zone 12 tournament. On the afternoon of the 25th before the departure, the team will start an internal teaching match in Shanghai Houpaier Sports Park Base. The coaching team will finalize the list of players for the tournament, taking into account their current physical condition and potential injuries after the warm-up matches.
Since August 18th, the national team started a new training session in Shanghai. Given that the national players have just experienced an extremely tight league schedule and other objective factors, head coach Li Tie deliberately adjusted the intensity of some of the training days, and on the afternoon of August 20 approved the players free to move around and get together with family and friends.
However, in the face of the pressure to prepare for the Top 12, the team's daily training is still rich in content. In the last two days, the focus of training has also shifted from physical recovery to technical and tactical drills.
Including recent additions Zheng Zheng, Wang Shangyuan and Wu Lei, who is in Spain, there are 33 players on the current national football training list. During an exchange with media representatives on the 22nd, Li Tie emphasized that the Chinese team will bring as many players as possible to Doha, considering the difficulties of training and competing abroad during the epidemic. This means that, as long as the physical condition allows, all 32 international players in the Shanghai phase of training are expected to participate in the preparation and competition in Doha.
However, the coaching staff initially added two players to the team, largely because of the risk of injuries within the team. Some players have suffered injuries of varying degrees after experiencing "9 to 10 consecutive matches in a month" in the league. If individual players' injuries are so severe that they are unable to train with the team, the team will not rule out the possibility of keeping them in the country for treatment.
Affected by the epidemic, the national team has been unable to arrange world warm-up matches before the start of the Top 12. For this reason, the coaching staff decided to test the preparation effect by organizing internal confrontation matches and prepare for the Top 12. The plan is to conduct an internal teaching match in Shanghai on the afternoon of August 25, before the trip to West Asia. The coaching team will make final adjustments to the travel list based on the warm-up matches and possible unexpected injuries.
It is reported that the national football team's trip to West Asia will be led by Chen Xuyuan, chairman of the Football Association. Du Zhaocai, deputy director of the General Administration of Sport and party secretary of the FA, who had traveled together before the tournament during the 40-team tournament, was unable to travel with the team this time for some reasons, but he has always been concerned about the team. He also recently arrived in Shanghai to send his encouragement and blessings to the team.
As of August 24th afternoon Beijing time, the Football Association is still actively communicating with the AFC, the Australian Football Association, the Qatar Football Association and other relevant parties to communicate the details of the first round of the 12-team tournament program. Australia-China match has been determined in Doha local time on September 2 afternoon, the specific kick-off time will be combined by the Australian Football Association television broadcasting needs to determine the final.
