China's men's soccer team prepares for World Qualifier
An atmosphere of intense preparation pervades the Chinese men's soccer team, which has planned to regroup again in early November for the upcoming World Qualification matches against Bahrain away on November 14th and Japan at home on the 19th. After the just-concluded China-India showdown, skipper Ivankovic chose to stay behind and use the recent week to evaluate potential international candidates in depth by following the Chinese Super League and Asian Championship matches. It has been revealed that the final version of the list of internationals is expected to be out by the end of this week. Facing the pressure of Xie Wenneng's suspension and the yellow cards of seven players, the coaching staff might draft in new faces.
Looking back at the home campaign on October 15, China got off to a good start for the 18-team tournament with a victory over Indonesia. The victory greatly boosted the morale of the team and the soccer community as a whole. Although China is currently at the bottom of the Group C standings with only three points, it is only two points away from Australia, which is in second place. Tactically, the Chinese team is still expected to achieve a breakthrough in the "top four of the group" if they can fight for more points against opponents with comparable strengths, such as Indonesia and Bahrain.
After returning to Beijing from Qingdao on October 16, Ivankovic canceled his scheduled European vacation. Since last week, he has been communicating with the Football Association (FA) to formulate a follow-up preparation strategy on the one hand, and getting to know the players better by watching the matches on the other. Last weekend, he even went to the Beijing Workers' Stadium to watch Guoan's home match against Sea Cow, and he was impressed by the outstanding performance of Guoan's new star Cao Yongjing, and the performance of other candidate international players was also remarkable.
The latest news shows that the main right winger Xie Wenneng will miss the battle of Bahrain due to the accumulation of two yellow cards. Seven players, including Li Lei, Yang Zexiang, Li Yuanyi, Wang Shangyuan, Zhang Yuning, Baihe Lamu and Alan, also have one yellow card each, of which Li Lei and several others are still the backbone of the team. If they receive another yellow card in the next game, they will face the risk of suspension for the Nov. 19 home game against Japan. The coaching staff plans to call up about 26 players in the new training session.
The past week has brought multiple pieces of happy news for Ivankovic. Wu Lei returned to Harbour's starting lineup and scored in the AFC Elite League, Zhu Chenjie made his comeback in the Chinese Super League, and Alan returned to the starting lineup for the relegation battle. These changes make the national soccer team look more complete. However, the absence of several injured players and the particularly impressive performances of substitutes such as Byeloram and Jiang Shenglong have made Ivankovic more cautious when considering adjustments to the starting lineup.
In terms of historical records, China has played Bahrain 7 times, with 3 wins and 4 draws. However, the last four meetings have been drawn. The last time the two teams met was in September 2018, which was a 0-0 draw. Against such an opponent, China has a strong psychological advantage. Facing a relatively weak Bahrain team, China is eager to take all three points to round off their performance in the first half of the 18-team tournament.
