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Early 2024, the Asian Cup draw feast came to an end on May 11th. Led by Sun Wen, a group of Chinese men's soccer team arrived in Doha to participate in this historic draw. It is worth noting that China is in the same group as Lebanon, Tajikistan and Bahrain, which is undoubtedly a big challenge for us. As the second Chinese team in the tournament, we were drawn in the same group as hosts Qatar, which may have been an unexpected "lucky" draw. With Jankovic at the helm, China is expected to come out on top in the group stage.
Let's start by exploring China's opponents in the Asian Cup. Tajikistan's strength is on a par with China's. If we can skillfully use naturalized players, a win is not out of reach. Dating back to June 2019, the Chinese team beat Tajikistan 1-0 in a warm-up match. It's worth noting that in that match, China was led by Lippi with a purely homegrown lineup, and ended up winning 1-0 and 3-0 against Tajikistan and the Philippines, respectively.
So it seems that the biggest challenge facing China at the Asian Cup may come from Tajikistan. As for the first-ranked host Qatar, as the weakest team among the first participating teams, the strength gap between China and them is not big.In 2018, the two teams met, China was defeated 0-1, but the strength gap is not obvious. The Chinese team also adopted the naturalized player strategy.
Currently, Iverson is in hot form and is shining in the CFL. Lo Kok Fu has publicly stated that he will retire in 2024 and is expected to help the national soccer team. Naturalized players such as Allan and Fernando will also play for the national football team in the Asian Cup. If the national soccer team can achieve good results in intercontinental tournaments, it will certainly give a strong boost to the development of Chinese soccer.
Lebanon beat Japan 1-0 in the World Qualifier, but it was more due to their defensive counterattacking tactics. If the national soccer team reduces mistakes in the game, winning the opponent will be within reach. Currently, the national team has emerged many excellent young players, such as Lin Liangming, Zhang Yuning, and midfielder Duan Liuyu. Wei Zhen is outstanding in the defensive end.
Some mid-generation players in the Chinese Super League are not inferior to foreigners, such as Xie Pengfei has an advantage in the winger attack. If coupled with the assistance of Wu Lei and other veterans, the Chinese men's soccer team is expected to stand out in the group stage of the Asian Cup. What's more, the national football team will host a number of high-quality warm-up matches this year, including two matches against Myanmar and Palestine in June. As the third participating team, Palestine can be fully prepared for the Asian Cup through exchanges with us, proficiency in tactics and in-depth understanding of the strength of other Asian teams.
Players aged 95-97 will be the mainstay of the national soccer team under Jankovic. Such as 95-year-old Barton, Wei, 97-year-old Wei Zhen, Lin Liangming, Yang Liyu, Yan Dinghao, Hu Jinghang, Zhang Yuning, 99-year-old Zhu Chenjie and so on. If the naturalized players can help, the Chinese men's football team has the confidence and ability to achieve excellent results in the group stage of the Asian Cup, and is expected to advance to the first group.
