With the Qatar World Cup Asian Zone 12 Championship approaching in early September, the Chinese men's soccer team is preparing for a tight schedule. Since August 18, the team will kick off a new round of training in Shanghai. It is reported that the first round of the Australian team against China's home field is likely to be located in Qatar's Duha, therefore, the Chinese team in Shanghai to complete more than a week of training, is expected to take a chartered flight to West Asia on August 26th. Wu Lei, who plays for La Liga's Espanyol, and British fitness coach Adrian Lamb are also expected to fly directly from Europe to Qatar to join the team. Faced with the unprecedented challenge of the Top 12, the Chinese team will not only have to cope with the hardships of competing outside the country, but also overcome the practical problem of not being able to warm up with other teams.
The new training list of the national football team was announced
On the afternoon of August 12, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) released a new national men's football training list through official channels, with a total of 31 players called up to prepare for the upcoming Top 12 tournament.
The training announcement shows that, except for the club players involved in the eighth round of the Chinese Super League bye, other international players need to arrive in Shanghai on August 18 to report to the resident hotel. In view of the first round of the 12 round of the China-Australia showdown may be arranged in Doha, the Chinese team plans to divide this training into two sections. The first part of the training will take place from August 18th to 25th, and then the whole team will go to the place of the match around 26th, and then have less than a week's acclimatization training.
Wu Lei to fly direct to Qatar
If the match is indeed scheduled in Doha, then Wu Lei, who plays for the La Liga's Espanyol team, will fly directly from Spain to Qatar to meet up with the team. The new La Liga season will start this weekend, and the first three rounds of matches for the Spaniards are scheduled for the nights of August 14th, 21st, and 27th, respectively. This means that Wu Lei will travel to West Asia at the latest after the third round of Spaniards' away match against Mallorca. However, once the national football team has the need, Wu Lei may also travel to Qatar right after the second round of La Liga.
British-born fitness coach Lamb will also fly to West Asia from Europe
Another person scheduled to fly from Europe to West Asia to join the national football team is the team's British fitness coach Adrian Lamb. After participating in the UAE's Top 40 with the national football team, Lamb returned to England directly for vacation. In addition, the CFA's specially recruited Belgian technical director Kreis has been staying in China after the Top 40 match, he will also accompany the team throughout the 12 matches, providing timely technical support for the coaching staff of the national football team.
Drive to the race site early and schedule as many warm-ups as possible
As of the evening of the 13th, the AFC and the Australian FA have still not officially confirmed the program for the first round of the 12 strong match between China and Australia. This has actually brought troubles and difficulties to the preparation of the Chinese team. According to the plan, the Chinese team is expected to leave Shanghai for West Asia on the 26th. However, as of now, the team still failed to execute the world warm-up program.
It is reported that the reason why the coaching staff of the national football team hopes to start the new training in advance, and start to the game place in advance, one of the reasons is in order to arrange for the team as far as possible, no less than two high-quality warm-up, in order to adjust the team's state of play. However, affected by the epidemic, the team even if they arrive at the overseas venue in advance, out of the need to prevent the epidemic, it is impossible to risk arranging the world warm-up matches.
It was also unrealistic to warm up with other professional club teams during the Shanghai training period. The Chinese Super League didn't finish the first phase of all matches until August 15, and club teams continued to rest and adjust after an unprecedentedly intensive journey. With the exception of the internationals, the vast majority of club teams went on vacation the day after the end of their duties in this phase of the tournament. And if the Chinese team warms up with a club team made up of substitutes or squad players, it is of little value. Therefore, it is no longer possible for the Chinese team to warm up with other teams in Shanghai or outside the country, and the problem can only be solved by "internal digestion", i.e., warming up before the tournament through internal grouping.
Afternoon matches are a boon for the national soccer team
Affected by the epidemic, the CFA was unable to assign a person in advance to go to the overseas alternative sites to play the station, which in fact also brought some uncertainty to the team's future preparations. However, the CFA's national football preparation and protection team has continued to work non-stop in the recent past to carry out the preparatory work. Some of the necessary information can also be grasped in place in a timely manner. From the AFC side of the news, the Australian team in addition to the Qatar Football Association proposed to the country for the first round of the 12 home games, but also applied for the game will be arranged in the afternoon local time, to ensure that the country's fans can be watched in the evening of the local time in Australia to the game live. Once agreed, it may also be a boon for Chinese fans, as the time difference between China and Canada is five hours. As for whether playing an afternoon game in hot West Asia will have a negative impact on both teams, the Australians are not worried, as Qatar has one of the most advanced air-conditioned stadiums in the world.
