The Chinese Super League (CSL) is about to take a break, followed by the Chinese national team's intense training and preparation phase. Against this backdrop, Coach Jankovic, the man at the helm of the national team, has had a lot on his plate lately. He has been traveling to all the major matches, closely tracking his core players and doing his best to prepare for the upcoming international matches.
However, compared to the previous phase of training, Jankovic's understanding of the players at the beginning of his tenure was still shallow, and he could only pick some experienced or promising players. Coupled with the fact that they were not yet fully integrated into the tactical system, the final training results and achievements were not satisfactory (against New Zealand, 1 draw and 1 loss, the process was quite disappointing).
However, after more than two months of observation and live league matches, Jankovic's knowledge of each player has become comprehensive and in-depth. Therefore, I have full confidence in selecting outstanding international players to participate in the second training. When asked by the media about the selection criteria, Jankovic was blunt: in addition to the overall strength of the players, they are more important to "serve the country's attitude".
At first glance, these two selection criteria seem inexcusable. However, if this criterion is strictly implemented, Yankovic may be able to help the national football team to realize an early blood change.
Why? There are two reasons:
First of all, those old players who have been selected for the national team for many times, although their strength is not bad, in fact, they do not care whether they can be selected or not, and even some resistance. Because they represent the national team to participate in many intercontinental competitions, but seldom have ideal results, often bear the blame of the media and fans.
At present, the overall level of the national football team is poor, and it is difficult to achieve significant results, which has become a foregone conclusion. Since you can not show a wonderful performance, and have to face the questioning and pressure, why do you still want to join the national team?
And for many veterans, they prefer to focus on the club. Previously, with a tight league schedule, they could use the break to rest and adjust to fight again for the team. However, once they join the national team, they have little time to adjust. Frequent traveling back and forth increases the risk of injury and may even affect their form at the club, which is undoubtedly something the players don't want to see.
Secondly, the so-called "attitude of playing for the country" of the veteran players who participate in the national team's training is nothing more than a façade. They are just doing it for the paycheck. In case you don't know, when a player signs a contract with a club, there is usually a clause that says: "The player will receive a percentage of his salary for the number of intercontinental tournaments in which he is selected for the national team". Clubs make such clauses in order to motivate players to improve themselves in the team and work hard to perform so that they have a chance to be selected for the national team. The improvement of players' strength is good for both the team and the club.
In addition, being selected for the national team means that players are not only rewarded with lucrative packages from their clubs, but also from the national team. When the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup began, the national team's daily training packages ranged from a few hundred to one or two thousand. Usually training for about a month, many players get tens of thousands just by training. In the era of gold dollar soccer, this may not be much, but for Chinese soccer, it is already a considerable income.
Overall, the league has seen a significant reduction in FA salaries and widespread wage arrears at most clubs, so these international players are desperate for these revenues.
So don't expect these old players to have what Jankovic calls "an attitude of playing for their country". They are already afraid of losing in international matches. They can't do anything against opponents such as Myanmar and Vietnam, who are generally not as strong as they are. If they lose, they will be under immense pressure. So don't expect these players to produce the desired results.
So what should Jankovic do? Maybe, as we said before, we can only give up the concept of "hardcore national football starter", choose some talented young players, reshape Yankovic's label, let them build confidence, and establish a sense of honor and mission to play for the country. Don't believe in the "bring the old to the new, pass on the experience" and other empty talk. What experience can those old national soccer players teach? It's all about failure and pain. What do you want these young players to learn?
