The latest revelation from the Beijing Youth Daily that the national soccer team's Asian Cup participation list will soon be revealed is expected to be made public next week, when 26 players will represent the national team. Chengdu Rongcheng goalkeeper Tao Tao is expected to stand out as one of them, and the news has quickly attracted the attention of many fans.
As previously reported, the national football team is scheduled to regroup on Dec. 17 and depart for the United Arab Emirates for a three-week closed-door training session in preparation for the upcoming Asian Cup, which kicks off on Jan. 12, according to earlier reports. During this period, the team will play four warm-up matches. It is reported that the performance of the Asian Cup will have a direct impact on the stability of coach Jankovic's position. If the national soccer team does not perform well, Jankovic's position may be in jeopardy.
It is worth noting that former FA executives Chen Xuyuan and Du Zhaocai, who have been jailed, had backed Jankovic as head coach of the national soccer team. The new FA leader Song Kai will obviously not endorse the mistakes of his predecessor. Therefore, Song Kai will not give Jankovic a second chance if the national football team fails to perform well, which means that Jankovic will have to focus on stabilizing his lineup in the latest roster.
Beijing Youth Daily further noted that most of the players on the list to be announced next week had trained with the national team in November. Wang Qiuming, Jiang Guangtai and Li Shuai are expected to return after missing the preliminaries due to injuries. The players who failed to participate in November training for non-physical reasons will not be involved in the Asian Cup. In addition, the coaching staff has decided to add an extra goalkeeper and will take four goalkeepers to the tournament, and Chengdu Rongcheng's goalkeeper Tao Tao may get a call-up as a result.
According to Beijing Youth Daily, there is already an idea of the 26-player list of the national football team for the Asian Cup, Jiang Guangtai, Li Shuai and Wang Qiuming are all expected to return to Chengdu Rongcheng. Although the media did not disclose detailed information, but said that due to non-physical reasons to miss the November training players will miss the Asian Cup, Ackerson and Fernando therefore farewell to the national football team. It is worth mentioning that Jankovic preferred to bring an extra goalkeeper rather than strikers like Ackerson and Fernando, a decision that sparked widespread controversy and made Chengdu Rongcheng's Tau Tau the biggest winner.
