The Chinese men's soccer team is currently undergoing intense training in Dalian, gearing up for the upcoming warm-up match against Vietnam. According to Beijing Youth Daily, the national team's gathering, with the injection of new blood, has not only added challenges for the veterans, but also brought new vitality.
Looking back at September's warm-up matches, the national soccer team's performance was slightly tiring. However, this edition of the national team has a new look, with 14 players making their debut, including nine members of the Asian Games team on a whim. Yankovic chose to intensify his training on the eve of the 36-team World Cup qualifying tournament, and a revamp of the team's look is now a must. Obviously, the team is in dire need of fresh blood, especially young players.
In the current national soccer roster, only four players, Wu Xi, Ekerson, Wang Dalei, and Tan Long, span the pre-1990s age group. In contrast, there are seven players over the age of 30, namely Wu Lei, Li Lei, Wang Qiuming, Wang Shangyuan, Xie Pengfei, Li Ke and Yan Junling. Among these 11, Yan Junling, Wu Lei, Li Ke, Ekerson and Wu Xi occupy the absolute starting positions for the time being. In other words, more than half of the starters need to compete with other players on the international stage.
In this training session with Yankovic, young newcomers such as Fang Hao, He Yupeng, Xie Weijun, Ye Lijiang and Ma Zhen were not added just to accompany the veterans, but in the hope that they can quickly integrate into the team and become the new force to hit the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Both experienced veterans and dynamic newcomers will need to adapt to the national team's preparation rhythm in a short period of time and deeply understand the tactical intentions of the head coach.
