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Look! On March 13, the Chinese national soccer team welcomed a friendly match against Chinese Super League newcomers Meizhou Hakka at their training camp, again the first warm-up match of Jankovic's coaching career. Officially, the Chinese soccer team used different lineups in the first and second halves of the matchup. 35 minutes in, Wu Lei made a clever breakthrough and sent an assist to Lin Liangming, who scored in front of the goal to give the Chinese soccer team a one-goal lead going into the second half. In the second half, Jankovic adjusted his tactics and practiced with his players. Despite the fierce competition between the two sides, neither side was able to change the score. Until the end of the match, the score remained unchanged at 1-0, and the debut of "Yankovic's class" ended.
As you know, the Chinese soccer environment has nearly collapsed over the past year. Since the loss in the Top 12, the national soccer team has been in a state of dispersal. In the East Asian Cup, the FA even sent U23 players to play. Jankovic led a group of young players who struggled to get a start in the Chinese Super League to a draw with Japan, earning the foreign head coach a lot of praise. In the end, he took over as the FA's managerial search hit a brick wall, and for a while it was thought that he was the last straw. But it also means that Yankovic is under far less public pressure than his predecessor.
When Yankovic took office, he bluntly stated that the national soccer team was aiming straight for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He set a strict standard for international players to have a body fat percentage of less than 10%. His intensive training made some international players uncomfortable. Ackerson became the first international player to retire due to his 18% body fat percentage and physical reasons. In addition, three defenders, Jiang Guangtai, Ren Hang and Liu Yiming, have also decided to temporarily withdraw from the national team and will return to their clubs to miss the upcoming matches.
Jiang Guangtai, as the core of the national football team's defense, has reached a body fat percentage of 12%, slightly exceeding Yankovic's standard. Coupled with the fact that he has not recovered from his injuries, he is unable to withstand high-intensity matches, which is also to protect his health. I believe that Jiang Guangtai will still be an indispensable part of the defense of the national football team after his recovery.
Renfrew's inclusion in the team was controversial after a long period of inactivity. His body fat percentage was 29%, the highest on the team. After winning the title with Wuhan Sanzhen, his body shape has seriously gone out of shape. Now 34 years old, Ren Hang's future position in the national soccer team is worrying.
In the 2019 Asian Cup, Liu Yiming's cheap mistake led to the national football team losing the ball, and Lippi resigned angrily after the match. Since then, Liu Yiming has not been selected for the national football team. This time, after four years of rejoining, his international career or this is the end. After all, 29-year-old Liu Yiming is no longer young.
The national football team will leave for Guangzhou on the 16th to play their final warm-up match for the upcoming tour of New Zealand. The national football team will then fly to New Zealand to play two warm-up matches against the New Zealand national team. These two matches will be of great significance to the National Football Team's road to the 2026 World Cup.
A few days ago, the U20 national football team's bright performance in the Asian Youth Championship was remarkable. With insufficient strength and a passive situation, they broke into the quarter-finals with tenacity and even saw the hope of entering the World Youth Championship. Their defense counterattack strategy is simple and practical, which may provide ideas for the construction of the national football team in the next ten years. More importantly, the spirit of the new national soccer team is inspiring. After all, without spirit and desire to win, everything will be in vain.
