On the eve of the journey, an important meeting was held within the Chinese national team, in which the Chinese Football Association (CFA) sent out an "early warning signal" to all players, emphasizing the need to prepare for the upcoming overseas challenges for a period of three months. The FA made it clear: "If there are any insurmountable difficulties, they can be raised in advance before departure." The journey from the end of August to the end of the fifth "home" match in mid-November will last exactly three months.
Thanks to this "early warning", after returning to the country's international players face a variety of external speculation and reports, the mentality seems unusually calm. A player said frankly: "back to the country to rest for a few days, both physical and psychological, feel more comfortable." It is reported that the players have long been informed that they will travel to the United Arab Emirates in West Asia to meet the next two matches.
After suffering a loss to Saudi Arabia, head coach Li Tie once again mentioned the team's shortcomings in warm-up matches. With the efforts of many parties, the national team finally reached an agreement on warm-up matches with Shenzhen, which had just been eliminated by Shenhua, and Zhejiang, a Chinese League One powerhouse.
According to the established plan, the two teams will face off with the national football team on the same day, November 3, when the national football team will send two sets of lineups to fight, which will undoubtedly become an important opportunity for the coaching staff to examine the players.
It is reported that the team does not really need too many players to accompany them, considering that the team has only two matches in total in West Asia and a tight schedule. Therefore, after the two warm-up matches, the national football team will have about five players to stay in the country and return to their respective clubs.
Nine of the national football team's 31-man roster have not featured in the past four matches - Barton, Li Lei, Dong Chunyu, Liu Tenzai, Wang Dalei, Xu Xin, Guo Tianyu, Wang Qiuming and Wang Shangyuan.
