With the Asian Cup approaching, our national soccer team will gather again on the 17th of this month and embark on a journey to the United Arab Emirates to prepare for the upcoming tournament. Coach Jankovic has reportedly finalized the new national team lineup, but has delayed announcing it to the public because the three Chinese Super League teams participating in the AFC Champions League still need to complete the final round of group stage matches.
Tianjin Daily reported that the Asian Cup is an important test for Jankovic, and may even affect whether he can continue to coach the next world qualifiers. In this regard, Yankovic is extremely important, plans to lead the team to the United Arab Emirates training, and intends to increase the selection of three players. It is reported that Jiang Guangtai and Wang Qiuming are expected to be selected due to their outstanding performance. Li Shuai, who missed the World Cup due to injury, will also have the opportunity to return to the national team.
It is worth mentioning that our national soccer team is in Group C with host Qatar, Lebanon and Tajikistan in this Asian Cup. From the point of view of strength and Asian ranking, Qatar is clearly the first favorite in this group as it occupies the home field advantage with the sixth place. Our national soccer team, on the other hand, is ranked 11th and is in the second group with Tajikistan and Lebanon.
Although Qatar has many naturalized players and has entered the World Cup consecutively, our national soccer team is not invincible from the point of view of historical records and technical and tactical levels. After all, Qatar and Japan and South Korea and other traditional powerhouse, the strength is still a gap, our national soccer team is also expected to impact the group first.
Reaching the knockout stage of the Asian Cup is the basic requirement of the FA for Jankovic. However, as a fan, we expect the national soccer team to finish at least in the top eight. Only then will the team regain its confidence in favor of fighting for more places in the next world qualifiers.
In this context, the first match against Tajikistan is of crucial importance. A good start will help the national soccer team take the initiative on the road to promotion and get into the game quickly. However, Tajikistan, ranked 19th in Asia, is not an idle team, and they are physically superior to our national soccer team. As a result, Coach Jankovic may adjust his tactics to focus on defense and will demand more from his midfielders.
Accordingly, in the match against Tajikistan, Coach Jankovic may replace Zhu Chenjie with Jiang Guangtai, who has outstanding defensive ability, and form a three center backs together with Jiang Shenglong and Wu Shaochong. And Li Ke and Wang Qiuming, with their excellent blocking ability and ability to organize attacks, are expected to be the double backs. Wang Qiuming will be responsible for organizing the attack and providing support for Wu Lei.
As for fans' concerns about Ekson and Fernando, it is unlikely that Coach Jankovic will bring them to the Asian Cup. After all, these two players were not selected in the previous World Cup qualifiers and are nearing the end of their careers. This means that the national team has only two naturalized players who are expected to be in Coach Jankovic's starting lineup.
