According to the established plan, China's men's soccer team will gather at the end of this month to the beginning of next month to fully prepare for the last four rounds of the key tournament in preparation for the Qatar World Cup qualifying round of 40. The coaching team has already screened a preliminary list of about 60 international players, and through the performance of the two training sessions of this year and the first stage of the new season of the Chinese Super League, most of the players for a new round of assessment, so, about the 40 strong match lineup, head coach Li Tie already has a clearer idea. Wu Lei, who plays for Espanyol, will return home to help the national soccer team hit the Top 12 as he does not need to be investigated. It is reported that he will arrive in Shanghai on the 18th of this month at the latest.
Affected by the epidemic, Wu Lei has not been able to participate in the national team training since November 2019, when he accompanied the team to play the Top 40 match against Syria in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. During this period, the national football team has completed six training sessions and eight warm-up matches under the leadership of Li Tie. Li Tie has laid a solid foundation for determining the lineup for the second half of the 40-team tournament through a meticulous investigation of candidate international players.
Although Wu Lei missed the previous six training, but his excellent ability and dedicated attitude has long been recognized by the new coaching team of the national football team led by Li Tie. In the establishment of the training personnel WeChat exchange group, Wu Lei is often "pulled" into the group. It can be said that Wu Lei has been an indispensable core player of the national football team.
The remaining matches in Group A of the 40-team tournament will be played from May 30 to June 15 in Suzhou, according to the schedule released by FIFA and AFC. The national football team is also scheduled to regroup at least 10 days before the tournament. Wu Lei, who confirmed his participation, will need to return to his home country early to make preparations related to the preparation and the match.
Up to now, 37 rounds have been played in Liga B. Espanyol is leading the table with 6 points. With only 5 rounds left in the league, they have a very high hope of advancing to La Liga. Although Wu Lei, who is facing difficulties at Espanyol, also hopes to join the team to enter the La Liga, he has to return home before the end of the La Liga B out of loyalty to the national soccer team.
The schedule shows that the 39th round of Liga B match between Espanyol and Cartagena will be played in the afternoon of May 16th, local time. Wu Lei is likely to temporarily bid farewell to the team after this round of matches, and then depart from Madrid, Spain on May 17th local time, and finally arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on May 18th Beijing time.
It is worth noting that the entry and reception of visiting teams, foreign match officials and other tournament-related personnel for the remaining matches in Group A of this 40-team tournament will be strictly enforced in accordance with the standards of the previous women's soccer Olympics play-off matches in the second round of the China-Korea women's soccer tournament. In other words, these people will be in a strict closed loop of epidemic prevention from the time they enter the country to the time they leave the country after the match.
For health and safety reasons, Wu Lei may take a chartered plane back to his home country. After entering the country, he will go to the designated isolation point, accept and pass the physical examination and the necessary medical isolation observation, will be sent directly to the competition area, that is, directly into the completely closed tournament "red zone".
Despite not being able to join the team for more than a year, Wu Lei has always been a "plug-and-play" type of player that successive national soccer managers have fully trusted in terms of ability and experience. For Wu Lei, the important thing is to relieve the fatigue brought by long-distance travel in time.
