As we enter the new year, there have been frequent changes in our national team's lineup, yet the preparation plan for the national soccer team is still up in the air, especially the specific arrangements for warm-up matches. For the current team, a high-quality game is the best litmus test of its strength. During this critical period of player turnover, the coaching staff must use the warm-up matches to select internationally competitive players and establish the starting line-up. Usually, the national team's warm-up matches are arranged half a year or even a year in advance, so the national football team urgently needs to quickly finalize its annual preparation plan and clarify its opponents.
Recently, the New Zealand national team took the lead in announcing its schedule of warm-up matches, including two matches against our national soccer team in late March. However, there is still no conclusion on whether we will send our national team to participate in the tournament, and we cannot rule out the possibility of selecting a team or the Asian Games team to play in the tournament. Just as speculation was rife, China's national soccer team announced two warm-up matches with New Zealand, which undoubtedly confirms that the main players will participate in full. It is worth mentioning that the U23 national football team will also be involved, with four matches against the New Zealand U23 team.
As far as the match times are concerned, the two face-offs between the national soccer team and New Zealand are scheduled for March 23 at 2 p.m. and March 26 at 11 a.m., respectively. The matches will be an international A-level tournament. It is worth noting that the last time our national soccer team played an international match was in June 2019 against Tajikistan, which ended up being a one-goal win. Now that 45 months have passed, it is safe to say that our national soccer team is experiencing a long wait. During this period, our national soccer team's unsatisfactory performance in world qualifiers is closely related to the lack of quality warm-up matches, which makes it difficult for the team to accurately assess its strengths and deficiencies.
Although New Zealand is ranked only 105th in the world, its strength is not inferior to teams ranked 80th. In this matchup, the New Zealand national team dominates. In addition, our national soccer team is challenging on the road, so the difficulty is naturally self-evident. As for which coach will lead the team to meet this 45-month debut, it is yet to be revealed. After all, selecting a coach is not an easy task and it takes time to sift through.
At present, do not rule out the possibility of Li Xiaopeng continue to coach, but this also has risks. On the one hand, Li Xiaopeng is expected to usher in the first victory of his coaching career, the outside world is also full of expectations for his performance, hoping that he can make a breakthrough a year later; on the other hand, once the failure, Li Xiaopeng's coaching ability will be questioned again.
