With the Hangzhou Asian Games soccer tournament approaching, the Chinese men's soccer team, led by Serbian coach Jankovic, began intensive training in Foshan from Feb. 4 to 14 to prepare for the New Year challenge. Immediately afterward, the team will move to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to continue ramping up the intensity of training.
During this period, the team will be challenged to play about 10 warm-up matches to improve their competitive status. The team then plans to fly directly to New Zealand in late March to take part in two international warm-up matches on March 23 and 26 against the local U23 team. Faced with the dual roles of the national soccer team and the Asian Games men's soccer team, the federation may consider letting Jankovic lead both teams, while the renewal of the contract of the national team's head coach, Li Xiaopeng, is yet to be finalized.
In view of the postponement of the Hangzhou Asian Games, the 1999 age group players are still preparing for the Asian Games in the name of the Chinese men's soccer team. According to the plan, the whole team will assemble in Foshan on February 4, followed by a 10-day closed training at the Sanshui base.
Officials from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) have revealed that 24 players in the U24 age group have been selected for China's men's Asian Games squad. The Foshan training aims to prepare for the next training in West Asia and a series of warm-up matches. The team is expected to depart from Guangzhou on the 14th and fly to Dubai, where a month-long training program will begin. During this period, the team will participate in about 10 high-quality warm-up matches, followed by a direct flight to New Zealand for international warm-up matches.
Affected by objective factors, the first training of the national team in the New Year may be postponed to March. The FA originally planned to hire a foreign coach to run the national team, but factors such as the conditions of cooperation, philosophy, goals, and the will of the candidates led to slow progress in coach selection. In the context of the national team's intense preparations and heavy tasks, the FA had to include current coaches Li Xiaopeng and Jankovic in the list of candidates for the next national team coach. As for the final candidate, or the two co-coaching whip, there is no clear conclusion yet.
The National Football Team and Men's Asian Games will soon travel to New Zealand to play two international warm-up matches with local teams. Jankovic will face the double task of the two teams, after all, he has been familiar with Zhu Chenjie, Dai Weijun and other starters in the Asian Games team, and other players are also involved in the training of the national team. These players are expected to be the new force of the national team. If the Football Association can select a new coach within a month, the new coach will have the opportunity to step in before the team visits New Zealand, but this seems unlikely.
The trip to the UAE and New Zealand is not only a workout for the players' physical condition, but also a new test of Jankovic's coaching ability. Prior to that, he had already led the team to last year's Dubai Cup and East Asian Cup.
