It is reported that as the two Shanghai teams and other Chinese Super League teams have been preparing for the upcoming Chinese Super League tournament in Dalian, some of the teams have also been in Haikou City to start their preparations and competitions. As a result, most of the players from the Chinese national soccer team selection squad have returned to their respective clubs. Currently, only seven players remain in the selection team, including Tao Qianglong, Liu Zhuyun, Huang Zihao and Liang Shaowen, four players of the 2001 age group of the National Olympic Team (U21 National Football Team).
In view of the fact that these players will soon join the Chinese Super League or go to Europe for the U21 national football team's overseas training respectively, Jankovic's coaching team has already tailored the training program for these seven players. It is worth mentioning that due to the impact of the epidemic, the team members still need to comply with the epidemic prevention regulations after arriving in Dalian and be quarantined in the resident hotel, so the current training is limited to the gym in the hotel.
According to the arrangement, the national football selection team will officially end its isolation on August 21st. Most of the coaching team and staff will then return to Beijing, and Jankovic will also return with the team and may brief the CFA on preparations for the team's participation in the East Asian Cup.
With the national soccer selection team completing its task for the East Asian Cup, the recent work of the coaching staff will also come to an end. Given that the Hangzhou Asian Games has been confirmed to be postponed to September-October next year, it was Jankovic's initial contract extension that was conditioned on leading the team to the Hangzhou Asian Games soccer tournament. Therefore, his current status remains the head coach of the Chinese men's soccer team for the Asian Games.
Although some soccer insiders have speculated that Jankovic, with his outstanding ability and dedication, may take over the Chinese men's soccer team, as of now, there is still no clear answer to the question of whether the current manager Li Xiaopeng will stay or go. Therefore, it is still too early to link Jankovic with the national soccer team, at least for the time being.
It should be noted that if the national soccer team decides to change its manager, there is a high probability that Jankovic will be the new manager, but he may not be the only candidate. This is because the upcoming Asian Cup and Hangzhou Asian Games soccer tournaments have similar schedules and the personnel choices for the two national teams are quite different. If a coach is allowed to be the head coach of two national teams with heavy responsibilities at the same time, the job may not work out well. Historically, similar attempts by national teams have ended in failure. Therefore, regarding the future direction of the national football team and the arrangement of the head coach, I believe that the team management, including the Chinese Football Association will be carefully considered. Yankovic also said in an interview with the media that his current focus is to lead the team to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games soccer tournament. It is worth mentioning that no matter who the new manager is, in addition to having excellent ability to conduct affairs and professionalism, he must also have an in-depth understanding of Chinese soccer, and even Asian soccer, to ensure rapid adaptation in the new position and avoid the team taking a detour in the new cycle.
