On the evening of October 10, at 19:35 GMT, a star-studded soccer feast, the 2023 CFA China-Dalian International Football Invitation Tournament, was staged passionately at the Sports Center Stadium in the soccer city of Dalian Barracuda Bay. However, the Chinese men's national soccer team did not make an appearance on the professional soccer field in Barracuda Bay, Dalian, but served as the home team to face the Southeast Asian powerhouse Vietnam men's soccer team.
The conclusion of the Hangzhou Asian Games has freed up space for the national soccer team to stop making way for events in Guo Ping, athletics, Chinese women's basketball, Chinese women's ping pong, Chinese women's soccer, Chinese men's basketball, etc. The event will be broadcast live on CCTV5, and will be simulcast on CCTV's sports channel.
Meanwhile, Jiangsu Radio and Television's Sports and Leisure Channel will also join the live broadcast. Whether through the CCTV sports client CCTV5APP or Migu video, fans will be able to watch the game in real time on the web and on their cell phones.
Dalian, a soccer city that has nurtured many soccer talents, is home to one out of every three international players on the Chinese national soccer team and the adult Chinese women's soccer team since the founding of New China. However, in the last decade, Dalian has suffered a serious loss of soccer talent, and of the 26 players trained for this national soccer team, only four were born in Dalian, namely Wang Dalei, Tan Long, Ma Zhen and Gao Tianyi.
It is worth mentioning that the absence of Lin Liangming due to injury leaves He Yupeng, who was called up for the first time by the national soccer team, as the only international player selected among the Dalian people. The young player was born in Anshan, but began his soccer career in the Dalian youth training system.
The tournament will feature Wu Lei, Yan Junling, Jiang Guangtai and Wei Zhen from Shanghai Harbour, veterans Liu Yang and Chen Pu from Shandong Taishan, Li Lei, Li Ke and Fang Hao from Beijing Guoan, Wu Xi, Dai Weijun, Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Shenglong from Shanghai Shenhua, Wang Shangyuan from Henan Province, Wang Qiuming and Xie Weijun from Tianjin Zimmen Tigers, as well as naturalized Brazilian-born players Aixen from Chengdu Rongcheng, Wei Shihao and Xie Pengfei from Wuhan Sanzhen, Nantong Zhiyun's Ye Lijiang of Nantong Zhiyun, and Wu Shaocong of Turkey's Youth United Football Club will be featured.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Linmiao and Liu Dengzheng, who are unable to compete due to injuries, make this tournament even more interesting. Aleksandar Jankovic, head coach of the Serbian national team, said it will give more young players a chance to show themselves.
Currently, China's national soccer team is ranked 80th in the world by FIFA, while Vietnam's men's soccer team, coached by renowned French coach Jean-Pierre Troussier, is ranked 95th. In recent years, Vietnamese soccer has made great strides, especially in youth training and leagues. In the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian qualifiers, the Vietnamese men's soccer team had surprised Chinese fans by beating the national soccer team 3-1.
This time, when they face each other again, the national football team will definitely give their best in the revenge battle, while the Vietnamese men's football team will not admit defeat easily. This intense match will undoubtedly ignite the passion of the fans once again.
