When night falls low, at 20:00 on June 5, the Chinese men's football team stepped onto the green of Sharjah Stadium in the United Arab Emirates, which will become the battleground for the remaining matches in Group A of the Top 40 tournament. Facing a high temperature of more than 35℃, the players still maintained a high level of enthusiasm in the only pre-match field acclimatization training. In terms of preparation, the Chinese team is ready for a "long war", i.e., on the basis of ensuring the dominance of ball control, they will strive to consume their opponents.
On the same night, the Chinese team had their second outdoor training session since their arrival at the Sharjah Stadium. The stadium, with turf similar in length and width to the Suzhou Olympic Sports Center, is much denser and carpet-like, making it ideal for skilled teams.
The Chinese team knows that the only opportunity to acclimatize to the field before the match with the Philippines is not to be missed. As with domestic preparations, the pace of training has been tight in recent days, and the focus on set-piece drills on the evening of the 5th shows that the coaching staff has given due consideration to the impact that the hot weather may have on the players. Once the game is in a stalemate, set-pieces will be a key tool for the team to break through the opponent's defense.
Group confrontation training was equally indispensable. Although goalkeeper Wang Dalei was unable to participate due to a back injury, the other players, including the three goalkeepers, were in good shape. The group confrontation went well. It is reported that the Chinese team has kept the same formation as in the match against Guam in the confrontation training. As for the specific personnel arrangements, it is still unclear. However, Ji Xiang, Liu Binbin and Tan Long featured prominently in the wing backs, wing forwards and forward line. In the opinion of head coach Li Tie, they are all important candidates for the immediate future.
Playing in 35°C heat, the Chinese team will inevitably engage in a war of attrition with their opponents. Facing an opponent like the Philippines, the Chinese team needs to pay great attention to tactics and strategy. "Keeping the ball at their feet" could be the key strategy for China to win. Only with a firm grasp of the ball, China can play freely in both offense and defense, thus consuming the opponent and finding a good opportunity to break through.
As planned, the Chinese team will have their final pre-match practice at the Khalid bin Mohammed Stadium on the evening of the 6th. Before that, Coach Li Tie will attend the pre-match conference at 7:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. Beijing time) on the 6th.
On the morning of the 6th, all the members of the Chinese team accepted the nucleic acid test in the resident hotel and were in good physical condition. The team members ate well, slept well, and were engaged in training, and it can be said that the quality of the team's preparation was not affected by the change in the location of the competition.
South Korea's "old friend" Kim Hee-Kun will be refereeing the match between China and the Philippines. As the result of this game will affect the competition pattern of this group, especially the second place in the group belongs to, so the referee organization information is of great concern. It is reported that the Korean referee Kim Hee-kun will be the referee, which is at least not a bad news for the Chinese team.
Due to various objective factors, VAR technology will not be introduced to assist referee enforcement in this year's Top 40. This means that the key role in determining the outcome of a match will always be played by the referee on duty, especially the head referee.
Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned from the AFC last month that a total of 14 referees were involved in the enforcement of Group A of the Top 40. Among them, Kim Hee-kun has impressed the majority of international players as the main referee of several key matches in the Chinese Super League and the Central League Elevation Playoffs. The South Korean referee also enforced three Chinese Super League matches and one FA Cup match in the 2018 season.
From this, we can see that Kim Hee-kun's enforcement characteristics, including running position and card habits, the Chinese players should be very well known, but also more adapted to. This group of text / our reporter Xiao Blush
