After a 2-3 defeat away in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese team departed for home on the evening of October 13, ending a 48-day-long closed journey to West Asia. In the face of all kinds of external comments, criticism and even blame, the Chinese team has long been accustomed to. In the fans "dismissed" shouts, head coach Li Tie began to set up for the international players in Suzhou closed training "homework". For them, it is more important than anything else to be able to go home after being away from their homeland for so long and get the team's preparation back on track. For the first 4 rounds of the 12 strong match exposed problems, including the technical and tactical arrangements of the gains and losses, Li Tie team will return to the country to carry out a comprehensive summary, a series of "corrective" work is imminent.
Shortly after the end of the China-Saudi Arabia match, the Chinese Football Association through the "Chinese national team" official microblogging revealed that the Chinese team in West Asia after 48 days of closed training and competition, will be on October 13th departure back to the country. 48 days of consecutive closed in the outside world to work and live, China's western expedition has also created a special record.
In the sand after the war, fans and the media will focus on the controversy focus on "naturalized players on the field timing" and Li Tie good or bad with the problem, does not seem to pay too much attention to the Chinese team in the long 48 days through the trials and tribulations.
In fact, on August 26, the national football team left Shanghai to open the west before the expedition, both the CFA working group or Li Tie as the head of the coaching team have been psychologically prepared, that is, once affected by the epidemic, the Chinese team is likely to stay outside the country for more than three months, until November 16 and the Australian team, "the second battle" to the end.
In West Asia, the problems and difficulties encountered by the Chinese team were beyond the expectations of the delegation and the coaching team. Being in a closed environment for a long period of time and extremely boring days after training deeply troubled all the members of the team. This also means that Li Tie, in addition to doing the regular work of leading the team in preparation for the war in the training ground, but also in the spirit of guiding and encouraging their own players.
In the exchange with Beiqing - Beijing headline reporter, part of the national football delegation members and international players are unanimously mentioned "pressure" problem. This includes two levels of meaning, on the one hand, the team from the 40 strong match, bear the pressure of the 12 strong match to create a good result, at the same time, "chartered flights", "the best quality logistical support" and so on once triggered a controversy, which in fact also added pressure to the whole team.
On the other hand, being in a closed environment for a long time, the life of the whole team is not normal compared to the past. In the game pressure and homesickness intertwined role, the players will inevitably produce negative emotions, and even a certain degree of "war" emotions. According to Beiqing-Beijing headline reporter, in this situation, more than 40 days, the coaching team in the team's ideological work even more energy than the team's technical work.
Even if the team beat the Vietnamese team, and Saudi Arabia played 2-3, Li Tie can not get rid of external questions and criticism, one of the main triggers is the "naturalized players use" problem. Because the second half of the match between China and Saudi Arabia less than 30 seconds, Alan assisted Luo Guofu scored a "magic goal", many fans and the media accused Li Tie in the use of naturalized players is too conservative, but also too hesitant.
But the fact is that the pace and difficulty of the game in the 12-team tournament is significantly higher than that of the 40-team tournament, and now, of the 4 naturalized players in the Chinese team, in addition to central defender Jiang Guangtai, the remaining 3, Alan, Luo Guofu, and Ekerson, will all be assembled in the attacking line. With Wu Lei's position untouchable, it is difficult for the coach to place all three naturalized forwards, who are more offensive than defensive, in the starting lineup at the same time. Facing the strong attacking teams of Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia, the Chinese team is eager to score goals, but the focus of the game is still on defense. That's why China's attacking players, including Wu Lei, were asked by Li Tie to actively participate in the defense.
Taking the China-Saudi Arabia match as an example, Luo Guofu's goal was due to the fact that the opponent's defense was unsteady at the start of the second half. Subsequently, he and Alan revitalized the Chinese team's offensive line, to a certain extent, also benefited from the physical decline of the opposing defense players. Imagine, if the two of them start on stage, its offensive characteristics and power than the actual battle? This is also a benevolent and wise question.
In the field of competitive sports, the success of the king and the defeat of the enemy has always been an invariable theorem. Objectively speaking, Li Tie's move to play two naturalized strikers in the second half was successful in terms of the game's progress. But because of the continuous mistakes in the defense, the significance of the goals scored by Luo Guofu and Wu Xi became smaller. When the third loss of the 12 strong match came, Li Tie into the "dismissal" crisis is also natural.
However, according to the Beiqing-Beijing headline reporter, the CFA signed a five-year long contract with Li Tie's coaching team after the Top 40 tournament, and made clear requirements for his mission indicators to lead the team. But in the last two matches of the Top 12, Li Tie led the team to beat Vietnam, the first four rounds of the record is generally better than the same period last term. And although the Chinese team is now in a difficult situation, it has not lost the possibility of advancing. In this situation, the CFA will not choose to change the manager at this time, even if there are plans for various extreme situations.
It is also understood that the players have been notified after the end of the game in China and Saudi Arabia, the whole team back to Suzhou may be adjusted only 2 days will be re-entered into a new round of preparations. From this, it is not difficult to judge, Li Tie team team work will still be carried out step by step, the CFA in the selection of the issue will not be swayed by the wind of public opinion.
So, is Li Tie's coaching success in the first 4 rounds of the Top 12 tournament? From the process and results, this team still has relatively obvious flaws at the technical and tactical level. The data shows that, with the team's 32 international players in the west, a total of 23 people in the first 4 rounds of the game. Among them, goalkeeper Yan Junling, defender Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Guangtai, Wang Shenchao, midfielder Wu Xi, striker Wu Lei 6 people of the main position is relatively stable, as long as there is no injury, they will continue to play the main line in the future.
As for the external accusations of "lineup and formation instability", in fact, also within the normal range. On the one hand, a considerable part of the team players, especially the young players lack of experience in the competition, in the selection of their problems, Li Tie has concerns is also very normal. Taking Li Ang as an example, after Yu Dabao's mistake before the first round of the match against Australia, some insiders called for "Li Ang, who has performed well in the league, can be used". But in fact, the intensity of the Super League is far less than that of the Top 12, and the situation is similar to that of Yu Dabao, Li Ang in the first half of the China-Saudi Arabia game handling the ball of the error is also very fatal. So, about the actual talent and condition of the players, no one more than Li Tie understand, he is in some of the field of choice of the use of people also really have no choice.
In the past 4 rounds of matches, the Chinese team had occasional highlights in the attack, such as Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning, and naturalized players Alan and Luo Guofu all showed certain characteristics. But in the selection of personnel in the midfield and backfield, Li Tie is plagued by a lack of talent and wavered from side to side. Take the defense line as an example, no matter how to allocate candidates, Li Tie could not prevent the team from losing goals every game. And the formation of the reasons for the loss of the ball in addition to the lack of individual defense ability, but also with the mental state of the players, these need to cause the national football team attaches great importance to. After all, if the Chinese team wants to keep the hope of getting out of the tournament, they must get at least 4 points in the next two home games. And the important condition of taking points is that the defense is extremely hard to prevent mistakes.
For the current national football team, the biggest advantage is to be able to "go home". After returning to their home base in Suzhou, the national players will be able to relax mentally, and the team's preparations for the next round of the tournament will also enter a normal trajectory. Because the next round of opponents Oman team has defeated Japan and Vietnam respectively, so the time left for Li Tie and his team to check and fill in the gaps is actually very limited. It is understood that because the team next back to the country to prepare for war, the coaching team will also consider from the club to supplement some of the players, in order to strengthen the strength of the national football team.
