On June 18th, a starry night, 58 Chinese players and 30 staff members of the Federation, a total of 92 members of the soccer family, gathered in Building 9 of the Taimei Xiangguli Hotel in Gusu Taihu Lake and held a warm "reunion" party. The FA took this opportunity to organize a short ceremony to celebrate the team's triumphant return. Mr. Du Zhaocai, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Sport and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Football Association, and Mr. Chen Xuyuan, President of the Football Association, congratulated the team for their four consecutive victories and encouraged them to build on the foundation of "breaking through in the Top 40" and to scale new heights in order to make an impact on the final stage of the World Cup in Qatar.
In the evening, Chinese players, coaches and management team, who had just finished a friendly match at Taihu Football Base, quickly arrived at the hotel. Here, the FA prepared a celebration dinner for them. Attendees included the two main leaders of the FA, 30 front staff, 29 international players led by coach Li Tie, and several data analysts.
In the just-concluded Qatar World Preliminary Asian 40, the Chinese team won four consecutive victories in the second half of the tournament and advanced into the 12-team tournament with their heads held high, living up to expectations and greatly boosting the team's morale.
Although Deputy Director Du Zhaocai, Secretary of the Party Committee of the HKFA and President Chen Xuyuan said that the team deserved joy for advancing to the tournament, they still need to work hard for a higher goal. However, with the world epidemic raging and the temporary change of the competition venue, the team managed to advance with an inspiring performance, and the whole team of the FA and the Chinese team felt immensely encouraged and overflowing with joy in their hearts. Therefore, the FA would like to congratulate and thank the whole team through this rare gathering.
In fact, the reason why the FA and the team are happy is twofold. On the one hand, the team achieved the small goal of being among the top 12, and on the other hand, all the players returned to the motherland in good health and safety under the fine and excellent epidemic prevention work of the Football Association. It is no wonder that the national footballer Wang Dalei in the early morning of the 19th through the social platform lamented: "It's good to be back in the country!"
In the view of the Football Association and the national team, although the team still needs to follow the epidemic prevention regulations in Suzhou to carry out at least 14 days of quarantine, but back to the resident, it is like returning to "home". Triumphant return to their natural reason to enjoy the warmth of home.
It is understood that Du Zhaocai and Chen Xuyuan, the two leaders at the dinner on the 19th, on the one hand, once again recognized the efforts of the whole team and praised the team's excellent results and morale in the Top 40. On the other hand, they also expected the team to continue to maintain the momentum after realizing the small goal and launching to the big goal. The so-called big goal is precisely to go all out to fight for the ticket to the final round of the World Cup in Qatar.
This "family celebration" made every participant feel proud, which also injected a shot in the arm for their preparation for the next round of 12 matches.
From head coach Li Tie to all the players to the FA staff, no one was complacent with the short-term success. Without forgetting their original intention, they re-engaged in the intense preparation for the match on the 19th after a short break. According to the plan, the whole team will have their first training session after returning to China at 4:30 p.m. on the same day at the No. 2 and No. 3 venues of Taihu Base. Although temporarily unable to reunite with their families, the success of the 40-team tournament and the desire for a ticket to the World Cup final round has made every one of them highly motivated. The Chinese team and the FA's preparations for the Top 12 officially kicked off from this moment.
