The much-anticipated Chinese national soccer team recently announced a 31-player training list for the final preparations for the World Preliminary 12 tournament, which will kick off in September. Despite the fact that Guangzhou's naturalized player Fernando was not selected due to injury, Guangzhou still has eight players called up, making it the team with the largest number of players in the training list, which can be called a concentration camp for international players. Meanwhile, Chinese Super League giants Beijing Guoan and Shandong Taishan have six players each, while table-leading Shanghai Harbor has three players on the list.
Compared with the last training list, the list has changed a lot, Tan Long, Li Ke, Tang Miao, Zheng Zheng, Ji Xiang, Mingri and other players regret to fall, while Guo Tianyu, Xu Xin, Wang Gang, Gao Junyi, Wang Qiuming, Luo Guofu, Barton, Zhu Chenjie and other 8 "newcomers" to emerge. Among them, a player failed to be selected to surprise people, he is the current Super League assists king. If you don't look at the Super League standings, I believe that many fans may not be able to guess who the assist leader is - Oscar, Yang Liyu, or Gao Lin from Shanghai Harbor? The answer is Yan Dinghao, who is regarded as Zheng Zhi's successor!
In 2019, Yan Dinghao suffered an unfortunate injury against Beijing Guoan, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and damaging the lateral collateral ligament in his left knee. Fortunately, the 21-year-old's physical functions recovered quickly, and the Guangzhou team has promised to provide him with the best medical rehabilitation conditions to help him return as a king this season. So far, Yan Dinghao has contributed 6 assists in 14 matches, topping the assists list in the Chinese Super League, making him an indispensable member of Guangzhou's midfield. His number of passes and pass success rate are among the highest in the team and even in the Chinese Super League.
In the 2019 season, Yan Dinghao has been selected as a candidate for U21 Player of the Month several times, and is a stalwart of Guangzhou's midfield in terms of both his footwork and passing accuracy, which are among the best in his age group. However, he failed to make the national team. Li Tie reportedly scrutinized a number of young players, including Yan Dinghao and Guo Tianyu. Guo Tianyu was selected for the national team due to his excellent sense of smell in front of the goal, while Yan Dinghao was defeated by players such as Xu Xin and Yin Hongbo in the match and unfortunately failed to be selected.
Perhaps due to the influence of tactical arrangement and Yan Dinghao's relatively weak physical condition, it seems reasonable to fail to be selected. Although Yan Dinghao failed to make the national team this time, it is not a bad thing. This will help him to avoid injuries, and at the same time, he will be able to concentrate more on the preparation for the second phase of the competition. It is worth mentioning that Gao Junyi, who was not selected for the first phase of the list, and Luo Guofu, who lost weight successfully, both returned to the national team. As a result, the eight men who have made it into the National Football Team's training list this time are: Alan, Ackerson, Wei Shihao, Luo Guofu, Zhang Linpeng, Gao Junyi, Jiang Guangtai, and Liu Dangzuo.
According to the arrangement, the national football team will start training and preparation on August 17 in Shanghai, which lasts until November. China's first two matches will be away to Australia on September 2 and home to Japan on September 7 respectively. Currently, only China and Australia have yet to confirm the venue for their respective home games among the top 12 teams. From the current situation, the national soccer team is likely to put the home field in Doha, Qatar.
