By midday on January 12, of the 52 people on the new training list for China's men's soccer team, only 27 arrived at the gathering place. Among the five naturalized players, Luo Guofu, Eckerson, Alan and Fernando are destined to miss the Shanghai training because they are in Brazil. Only Jiang Guangtai, who took part in the second phase of the Chinese Super League, has left for Dubai, UAE, to spend time with his long-lost family, although he is not happy about it. Despite not being able to join the training in Shanghai, he will be on his way to Japan at the end of this month as scheduled to play alongside the team for the remainder of the 12-team tournament.
The official training list released by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) shows that a total of 52 players have been selected for the first edition of China's men's soccer training list in 2022. However, as of noon on January 12, two hours before the team's first assembly in Shanghai, only 27 players had arrived.
As a result of participating in the final of the FA Cup held in Chengdu last week, from Shandong Taishan, Shanghai seaport two teams of 16 international players, in addition to the seaport defender Wei Zhen can not participate due to suspension, the rest of the 15 people will be scheduled to arrive in Shanghai on the 14th to meet with the national football team.
Defender Li Shuai, who plays for Dalian Ren in the Chinese Super League, and striker Liu Ruowan, who plays for Chengdu Rongcheng in the Chinese First Division, will delay their arrival in Shanghai for a few days because of their participation in the second round of the Chinese Super League's Chinese First Division promotion playoffs on the afternoon of the 12th. Zhu Chenjie from Shanghai Shenhua FC will also delay joining the team for a few days due to his injury.
Of the five naturalized players, four have returned to Brazil on vacation and are confirmed to be unavailable for the Shanghai training session. The coaching team had hoped that Jiang Guangtai, who has only participated in the second phase of the Chinese Super League, would join the training, but it was revealed that Jiang Guangtai would not participate in the training in Shanghai. This is mainly due to the fact that he has been training and playing with the national team and the club in a closed environment for a long time and misses his family very much.
The CFA, together with the national team coaches and management team, agreed from the perspective of humane management that he would travel to Dubai, UAE, to reunite with his relatives after completing his league duties. Jiang Guangtai will maintain a high degree of self-discipline and stick to his training after arriving in the region, and plans to fly directly from Dubai to Japan around January 27 to join the national team.
As for whether the remaining four naturalized players in Brazil will be able to go directly to Japan, the situation does not seem optimistic. It is understood that in the huge national team staff lineup, had a long time with the team to prepare for the World Cup, the Portuguese interpreter Zhang Tengfei was not selected for this period of the national football training work team, which may also release some kind of signal.
