After the Li Tie scandal, the national soccer team is like an untimely bomb buried on the field. The surface glamor could not hide the hidden deep-seated problems behind. As the Li Tie incident festered, it seemed to be just the tip of the iceberg of Chinese soccer chaos. Looking back at the Qatar World Cup Asian qualifying round of 12 focus games, Li Xiaopeng's situation is not optimistic, he had to face unprecedented pressure.
For the World Cup in Qatar, the absence of the Chinese team is undoubtedly the most regrettable. Despite being full of Chinese style in terms of decorations and elements, the Chinese team itself became the missing protagonist. In the Asian qualifiers, the Chinese team spent huge sums of money inviting Brazilian players, purchasing advanced training equipment, and even seeking tactical advice, but these inputs did not seem to bring the expected results. This seems to confirm a point of view: the more you invest, the greater the possibility of failure, and what is the hidden problem behind this?
China's defensive performance against Vietnam was of particular interest. While the Chinese team performed moderately well in matches against Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia, the match against Vietnam was confusing. Vietnamese media even questioned the purity of Chinese soccer. Defensive players such as Wu Xi and Wang Yanchao were in the spotlight in this match. China led in the first half, but was scored three goals in the second half. As a defensive line, were the players too reckless in their responsibilities? Obviously, Li Xiaopeng became a target when the question arose. As a new head coach, he tried to take control of the team. However, before Li Xiaopeng became head coach of the national team, he had a good personal relationship with members of the team, including Ngo Sai. In the second match against Vietnam, Wu Xi chose to dodge in the face of a tackle by a Vietnamese player, a move that gave the Chinese team a glimmer of hope. However, after the match, Wu Xi became the target of criticism from fans. However, the fact is that the result of the match, Li's first game as a national soccer coach, did not seem to support this speculation, whether he held a fake football mentality or not. Facing Vietnam, Li is full of confidence, but the risks cannot be ignored.
