Following the "Peng Phase I", several naturalized players from overseas are still on the list of the national football team training in Haikou. Fernando, who missed out on the victory last time, and Aixon, who was unable to participate due to illness, are once again on the list of the national football team, along with Luo Guofu and Alan, who joined as "naturalized players" after terminating their contracts with Guangzhou Football Club.
According to the rules of the national team, including the four naturalized players and Li Lei, who plays in Switzerland, they need to arrive at the venue on March 18th. Although the Chinese Football Association has not yet announced the specific location of the March 24 home match against Saudi Arabia, but taking into account various factors, the national football team's home stadium is likely to continue to be located in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
It is worth mentioning that after the match with Saudi Arabia, the team can travel directly to Oman without a long flight, which is an advantage for the national football team. In contrast, the national soccer team has a geographical advantage over Oman, who will challenge Vietnam on the road in the ninth round.
However, for Li Xiaopeng, the training phase with no warm-up matches to play was a challenge. The absence of naturalized players such as Fernando and Allan makes their physical and athletic status still an unknown until they meet up with the team. In the last match against Vietnam, although Luo Guofu and Alan were included in the starting lineup, they lacked systematic training for a long period of time, and their physical fitness and cooperation with teammates were rusty, so they failed to play to the expected effect.
Before considering the mechanics and tactics of naturalized players, Li Xiaopeng first needs to determine which players will be able to return to the team. "From now to March 18, there are still more than twenty days, no one dare to guarantee that this process, will not appear again in the same situation as Aixon." A national soccer player said, now the team can only do as much as possible to make a variety of plans to deal with the possible emergence of a variety of accidents: "All the circumstances are taken into account, to do what they can do, can only be so."
In any case, this training session in Haikou, which began on March 3, will be the final buildup in the name of the national team's preparation for the Top 12 tournament. The final two matches against Saudi Arabia and Oman are not simply a walk in the park.
Final battle, all-out effort to avoid collapse
Although after losing to Vietnam, the national football team has lost the group out of the hope, but for the head coach Li Xiaopeng and this national football team, the 12 strong is still a must cross the "hurdle".
From the hands of Li Tie took over the coaching whip of the national football team, Li Xiaopeng facing coaching environment is still quite relaxed. Despite the fact that the national football team still has the theoretical hope of getting out of the line, but the outside world on the initiative of the national football team to change the manager, more interpreted as next year's Asian Cup held in the home country to prepare for the game. Even some fans said, as long as the national football boldly reuse newcomers, playing in the 12 strong match should be the spirit and momentum, "regardless of the final result, will always support the national football".
"Peng a" training, Li Xiaopeng called in Liu Ruowan vanadium, Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Shenglong and other young players, although by the quota limit, and Japan and Vietnam team games are still to participate in the previous 12 games of the veterans, but the middle-generation players such as Xu Xin, as well as newcomers Dai Weijun, have got a stable playing time.
However, the national football team 1-3 loss to Vietnam, from Li Xiaopeng to the players, have become the outside world "bombardment" of the target. South Korean media even rumors, the Chinese Football Association on Li Xiaopeng coaching performance is very dissatisfied, has been in China to coach the Hebei team of South Korea's manager Kim Jong-woo contact, the latter is expected to serve as the new coach of the national football team.
Although later proved to be false news, but originally considered to be "chicken ribs" of the impact of the 12 strong tournament, but also let the national football team realized that the final two games with Saudi Arabia and Oman, is not simply go through the motions. On the one hand, Li Xiaopeng led the new coaching team need to prove themselves through the game to have the ability to manage the national team; on the other hand, if the country enough to four consecutive defeats to the end of the 12, not only will trigger a further decline in the international rankings and the resulting chain reaction, the morale and confidence of the team, as well as the preparation for the Asian Cup, will have a considerable impact.
"From our own point of view, we definitely have to go all out to play the last two games, to give ourselves an explanation, but also to all the people who care about the national team an explanation." A player who participated in the first round of the group stage said that as long as it is the national team's game, there is no reason not to take it seriously: "Although compared with Japan, Saudi Arabia and other strong teams, we do have some gaps, but certainly not to the point where it is impossible to play the situation, go all out to fight is it." (Eastern Sports Daily)
