In September, three Chinese men's national soccer teams will simultaneously compete in the National Team Warm-up Tournament, the Asian Zone Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the Hangzhou Asian Games. On this fiery soccer battlefield, Chinese soccer not only fights for every game in the present, but also for the future of men's soccer to prove their determination and technical and tactical level can win the trust of fans.
national soccer team
Strive for breakthroughs even if you're short-staffed
Facing the challenge of overlapping preparations for the Olympic and Asian Games teams, the Chinese men's national team did not assemble the strongest squad. Against the backdrop of Shanghai Seaport's qualification for the AFC Champions League and an undefeated run in the Chinese Super League, as many as eight players have been selected for the national team, including Wu Xi from recent eye-catching performers Shanghai Shenhua, and four from Wuhan Sanzhen, including Liu Dianzheng, Deng Hanwen, Xie Pengfei and Gao Junyi.
Jankovic placed a high priority on the FIFA National Team Match Day in September, expecting to gather all the best players to be ready for the 2026 FIFA World Cup 2026 USA Canada-Mexico Asian Round of 36, which starts in November. Unfortunately, due to the overlap of the Olympic Games and the Asian Games, Jankovic can only pin his last hope on the National Team Match Day in October. Nonetheless, he is looking forward to practical drills between old and new players, especially in the warm-up matches against Malaysia on September 9th and Syria on September 12th.
Immediately after that, the opponents of the national soccer team's warm-up matches in October will be upgraded to Vietnam and Uzbekistan. At that time, Jankovic will gather all the elite, these two opponents will also enhance the intensity of the national football matches, to prepare for the preliminaries. As Yankovic said, the preparation for the national football team's preliminaries is a gradual process, and the difficulty of the opponents will be from weak to strong, gradually completing the challenge.
national Olympic team
The first battle is the decisive battle, and there is no room for error.
On August 30, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) issued the latest notice to recruit three players to join the National Olympic Team, led by Cheng Yaodong, who will prepare for the sixth U23 Asian Cup Qualifier and the first phase of the Asian Zone of the Men's Football Qualifying Tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will start on September 6th. Tao Qianglong and Chen Yuhao of Wuhan Sanzhen were selected, with Tao Qianglong being an indispensable side-kicker for the Asian Games team.
According to the qualifying rules, the 44 teams will be divided into 11 and 4 groups. North Korea's decision not to attend the qualifiers has resulted in only three teams remaining in Group 9, and the group qualifying rules have been adjusted accordingly. China's seventh group may only be able to compete for second place if they fail to win their first match on Sept. 6, so victory is crucial.
Asian games team
Lists to be determined, challenges ahead
In June, the Chinese men's Asian Games team lost a match in Jinhua, but then managed to bounce back and show the world that a breakthrough at the Hangzhou Asian Games is possible. Djurdjevic revealed that the Asian Games team list has not yet been finalized and that he will continue to watch the players in the league until the last minute.
In the final training session before the Asian Games, Djurdjevic once again called up newcomers, including Liu Yang and a number of overage players. The final selection of the three overage players will be revealed after the training. Meanwhile, Djurdjevic did not take part in the test due to Olympic qualifying commitments.
At the end of September, the Chinese Men's Asian Football Team will embark on a trip to Hangzhou for the Asian Games. Although they will have no worries about getting out of the group stage, they will face strong opponents in the knockout stage. Whether they can finally reach the final or even win the championship depends on the efforts of the young players and the wisdom of the coaching staff.
