At present, Chinese football has officially entered the national team time. In the future, the Chinese men's football team will launch an attack on the highest honor in Asian football. In order to achieve good results in the Asian Cup in Qatar, the Chinese men's football team, led by head coach Jankovic, came to West Asia early for training to adapt to the weather. Since the strength of the Chinese men's football team is indeed limited, it is not easy to achieve good results in this Asian Cup. For the national football team, if they want to achieve the goal of qualifying from the group, the first match against Tajikistan is very important and critical. If they can play well in the first game, the national football team will indeed have a high probability of reaching the top 8. There are four highlights in the first national football match that will be held at 10:30 pm on January 13. However, the last point really makes fans feel helpless.
One of the highlights: Whether the Chinese team can get off to a good start, the humiliation of the warm-up match
In order to run the lineup, the Chinese team played several warm-up matches after arriving in the UAE. Due to its limited strength, unlike Japan and South Korea, the national football team chose several teams that are not strong enough to warm up. The purpose is to accumulate confidence through victory in the warm-up match. However, contrary to expectations, except for two local teams that were too weak, the national football team suffered defeats in the warm-up matches against Oman and Hong Kong, China. Especially in the match against the Hong Kong team of China, they not only lost the game 1:2, but also couldn't even get past the midfield for more than 20 minutes in the game. This kind of performance can indeed be described as shameful. Therefore, in the first match against Tajikistan, which is not very strong, the Chinese team is not sure whether they can get off to a good start and avoid the humiliation in the warm-up match.
Highlight 2: Who will score goals for the national football team?
In this Asian Cup, coach Jankovic brought three forwards Wu Lei, Tan Long and Zhang Yuning. So, who can help the national football team score goals in the Asian Cup? In the four warm-up matches, the national football team scored many goals. However, it is obvious that the goals scored by the national football team are mainly concentrated against two very weak local teams. In the games against the stronger Oman and Hong Kong teams, the national football team's constant problem of scoring goals was very obvious. They didn't score a single goal against the Oman team, and they only scored one goal against the underdog Hong Kong team in China. However, in the last warm-up match, Zhang Yuning scored a hat trick. If he can carry this good form into the first game, he may score goals for the national football team.
Point 3: The combination of the national football team’s defense line
To be honest, after seeing the national football team’s defense line, I believe some optimistic fans will be very pleased. Because the backbone of the national football team's defense are still relatively young and seem to be pretty good. Including Jiang Guangtai, Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Shenglong, Wu Shaocong, etc. However, after several warm-up matches, no matter what combination the national football team's defense is in, or whether they face strong or weak teams, they have conceded goals in every game. Moreover, in the competition with local teams, there were two penalty kicks in one game. Even after the game against the Hong Kong team, players from the Hong Kong team directly stated that the national football team’s defense was unstable. Therefore, in the first game of the national football team, the defense combination has become a highlight.
Point 4: Will the national football team receive special "care" from the AFC again?
Chinese football's status in Asian football has never been high, so in the eyes of many fans, Chinese football has always received special "care" from the AFC, especially in recent times. As for the reason, everyone actually knows it. Originally, the Asian Cup was held in China, but in the end the Chinese Football Association gave up hosting it and moved it to Qatar. This kind of operation has caused the already low status of Chinese football to plummet once again. In the AFC Champions League, the Chinese team has been subject to controversial penalties many times. In the World Cup preliminaries, unfair penalties were encountered even at home. The U23 Asian Cup draw directly placed the Chinese team in the same group as Japan and South Korea, with basically no possibility of qualifying. Therefore, in this Asian Cup, whether the Chinese team will receive special "care" from the AFC is a major attraction. Regarding this, to be honest, Chinese fans are really helpless.
