Han Jiaqi has played five rounds for Guoan in the recently-concluded Chinese Super League, and his performance has been remarkable and highly consistent. During this period, he made three shutouts, especially in the key battles against Shandong Taishan and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, Han Jiaqi made many thrilling saves to keep Guoan's goal intact and helped the team beat their opponents with 2-0 scores.
On the other hand, Zhang Yuan's playing time this season has been drastically reduced in comparison, with only 282 minutes of playing time in 11 matches. In the match against Jinmen Tigers, Guoan's main back Li Ke was injured and left the field, and Zhang Yuan stepped up to replace him. He not only assisted the team to plan the first goal, but also completed the fatal strike in the last minute of injury time at the end of the game, sealing the victory with a score of 2-0. This outstanding performance won the praise of Ivan Kovic, who was watching the game, and also made Zhang Yuan honored to be on the preliminary 55-man list of the national football team.
It's worth noting that Ivan also had his eye on former Guoan player Hou Yongyong in the latest training session of the national soccer team. Hou Yongyong has not had many chances to play since he naturalized and joined Guoan in 2019, despite his outstanding skills and awareness, due to a long-term knee injury.
Early last year, Hou Yongyong failed to renew his contract with Guoan after it expired and moved to Ranheim in the Norwegian League. This season, he has been in great form, scoring 11 goals and adding 5 assists in 15 league games. Such performance naturally attracted the attention of the national football team manager Ivan Kovic, and he was successfully included in the national team lineup.
It has been reported that due to his low form, Ickerson will miss the latest national team training, and Hou Yongyong will replace him as the new naturalized player of the national football team. Meanwhile, Chengdu Rongcheng's Wei Shihao will also be out of the national team due to his suspension by the Football Association. However, his teammate Hu Huotao was selected for the national team for the first time, making the number of international players in the Rongcheng team not reduced.
It is reported that the national football team will regroup after the quarter-final of the FA Cup comes to an end. By then, the final list for the 18-team tournament will be officially unveiled. Whether the players can remain in the national soccer team will depend on their performance in the league as well as in the national team training ......
