The Chinese men's soccer team will face New Zealand in their second warm-up match tomorrow afternoon in a highly anticipated event. Following the 0:0 draw in the first match, fans' anticipation for this clash has soared. So, will the match be broadcast live on home soil?
Looking back on the last campaign, the FA's control over domestic broadcasting was quite strict, with CCTV not having any broadcasting arrangements, and even video platforms being deprived of broadcasting rights. During the U20 Asian Cup, although CCTV did not broadcast, but the video platform can also provide the event screen. However, this time, even the platform broadcast is also banned, the control is unprecedented.
In the first match, China's offense and defense were mediocre. Although the opponent is ranked lower, its starting lineup is twice as strong as ours and has two players from the top five leagues. Overall strength comparison, the Chinese team is slightly weaker. So, can the game resume live? Today, CCTV released the broadcast arrangements for tomorrow's game. As of now, CCTV remains silent, perhaps not broadcasting. Unsurprisingly, the FA will continue the copyright ban. This means that domestic video platforms will not be able to broadcast the matches. We can only watch the overseas broadcast through the wall, or use pictures and Chinese commentary to understand the scene. Like the last match, we can only rely on text broadcasts.
After a 0:0 draw against New Zealand in the first match, China is undefeated against New Zealand in the last 27 years. The two sides have met 6 times, with China winning 2 and drawing 4. Facing New Zealand, we still have some psychological advantages. In this match, the Chinese team may make a large-scale rotation of the starting lineup. There are so many players that two lineups can be drawn up. It would be reasonable if the starting lineup is quite different from the first match. After all, this is Yankovic's first two matches after taking over, and with more warm-up matches this year, there is more room for error.
For fans, they have expressed their support after the game was broadcast live on CCTV. On the one hand, Chinese soccer is riddled with problems, and fans are unhappy with the waste of TV resources. On the other hand, it seems to confirm the idea that as long as CCTV doesn't broadcast it, the Chinese team has a fair record. Just as during the U20 Asian Cup, which was not broadcast on CCTV, we managed to advance to the top two in the group stage in Japan and Saudi Arabia, and especially did quite well against the Asian champions, Saudi Arabia, beating them 1:0. In the knockout round, we drew 1:1 with South Korea and lost in overtime, and the last match also showed the advantage of the Chinese team.
This shows that the Chinese team performed relatively well without CCTV broadcasting. Perhaps the public pressure on the international players will also be lessened without the TV broadcast. Hopefully, the players will play well this time without CCTV broadcasting.
