Late this afternoon, China's men's soccer team took off from Shanghai and embarked on a journey to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is expected that at dusk local time on the 18th, they will arrive in Dubai at about 7:15, after a short rest immediately transferred to Abu Dhabi, into the Asian Cup preparation tide.
During their intense training session in Abu Dhabi, the national team was set to play a warm-up showdown against neighboring Oman, as well as two teaching matches against local teams in the UAE. However, with the planned friendly against India in jeopardy due to changes in the opponents' schedules, the national football team is actively searching for new opponents.On January 7, they are scheduled to leave for Qatar to prepare for the final stretch run. Despite the organized pace of preparation, the dynamics of the opponents in the same group are not to be underestimated.
The Tajikistan team has been assembled in the UAE and they are planning to warm up against strong teams like Vietnam at the current stage. Looking at Tajikistan's training squad, only three players are over 30 years old, while 12 players are in their prime, eight of whom are even younger and under 21. Croatian-born coach Šegot has had a significant impact on the team's rejuvenation strategy.
Last Monday, the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) officially announced that former national team boss Radulović will be back at the helm of the national team between 2015 and 2019 to lead the team to its first-ever Asian Cup qualifying campaign. The Montenegrin coach then launched a three-day closed-door meeting with officials from the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) to finalize the preparation list for the Asian Cup.
Lebanon's training will run from Dec. 19 to 28, with a total of 29 names selected, including eight players who have played with Radulovic at the 2019 Asian Cup, according to local media outlets. However, Radulovic still has the right to make adjustments to the roster after the training phase. For example, Ayoub and Darwish, two players who shone in the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, are expected to return to the squad after recovering from injuries.
Radulovic has also approached the Lebanese Football Federation about purchasing player data software and using big data analytics to optimize the team's tactical setup.
Host Qatar is also in the same group as our men's soccer team. Given that the 12th round of the Qatar League will be played from December 20 to 22, Qatar's manager Marques will need to organize a quick return to training for his players after the end of the league. The Qatar Football Association (QFA) has scheduled a warm-up match against Cambodia on Dec. 31 and another warm-up before the Jan. 12 showdown with Lebanon. After the matches, Marks will adjust the squad accordingly.
According to the Asian Cup system, the 24 teams will be divided into six groups in the group stage, with the top two teams from each group and the top four finishers advancing to the round of 16.
