At one o'clock this afternoon, our national soccer team took a special flight on China Eastern Airlines from Shanghai to Dubai, UAE, to prepare for the remaining three matches of the upcoming World Preliminary 40 tournament. As the saying goes, "get on the train with dumplings and get off with noodles", the hotel restaurant prepared handmade dumplings for the players and staff last night to symbolize good luck.
With an estimated flight time of about nine hours, our soccer team will arrive in Dubai around 7 p.m. local time on Wednesday. The flight will not only carry our players, but also the full team of our group rivals Guam, the referees for the Group A matches and some AFC officials. Given the scarcity of premium berths, the AFC has made every effort to ensure the comfort of the players and coaches to reduce the fatigue of the long journey.
Upon arrival in Dubai, the players will be fully armed and dressed in protective clothing to pass through the barrier. Qi Jun, secretary-general of the CFA, emphasized, "We require the driver who comes to pick up the players to undergo a nucleic acid test in advance to ensure that there are no problems before he can provide services to the team."
The Chinese team arrived in Sharjah with a total of more than 90 people, including players, coaches and a security team of more than 30 people, as well as specialized working groups for business and epidemic prevention. Our soccer team carried 20 boxes of anti-epidemic supplies, including protective clothing, masks, face masks, gloves, and so on. As items such as alcohol, disinfectant and hand sanitizer cannot be brought on board, the team will make purchases with the assistance of the travel agency upon arrival in the region.
Chi Jun said, "The general principle is to try to isolate from the outside world and minimize contact. If contact with outside people is necessary, protective measures should also be taken to ensure safety."
After completing the immigration formalities, the entire team will drive for about an hour to Four Points by Sheraton, a four-star hotel located in the Sharjah tournament area.
In order to ensure the safety of life and travel during the tournament, the CFA has chartered an entire hotel for our soccer team. Except for the hotel staff, the rest are all Chinese teams. Players and staff were entitled to single rooms and meals were served in the hotel restaurant.
In order to satisfy the team's desire for Chinese food, CFA President Chen Xuyuan assisted the team in contacting a local Chinese restaurant, so that when the meals provided by the hotel were not to their liking, the players could improve their meals by "ordering Chinese takeout".
In his final practice before the trip, Stanley Wong said, "We are all professional players and now we need to adjust our condition as soon as possible to get ready for the next matches. No matter where we play, we have to do our best to win the next three matches. Our security team will do their best in all aspects of clothing, food, accommodation and transportation, and I believe that through the concerted efforts of everyone, we will be able to achieve the desired result."
For the next match, our soccer team has additionally drafted Tan Long, Ji Xiang and Liu Binbin before departure. Tan Long was once lost for falling out of the national soccer team, but now he has been given a new opportunity, "In fact, I'm especially looking forward to my first goal for the national team, but compared to this small goal, the national team's results are more important, and I hope that the national team can enter the Top 12 this time."
It is worth noting that Syria have also added two players to their squad, including last season's top scorer in the league, Bahal, and starting midfielder Salama, who has played against us in 2019. In addition, the Syrian Football Federation previously applied to the AFC and the local authorities in Dubai to open the game to fans in the hope of enjoying home treatment at the Sharjah Stadium.
