The national football team arrived in Tianjin to prepare for the China-Singapore battle. Zhang Linpeng will not quit the team.
Zhang Zhe, all-media reporter from Guangzhou Daily
After the away match between the Chinese men’s football team and the Singapore team, Zhang Linpeng has been the focus of public opinion, and his stay in the national team has attracted much attention. Yesterday, Zhang Linpeng made his latest statement: “As long as the national team still needs me, I will go all out and persevere to the end!”
In the top 36 of the Asian preliminaries of the World Cup, the national football team was tied 2-2 by Singapore in an away game. Captain Zhang Linpeng said in an interview with the media after the game that he would retire from the national team. The National Football Team attaches great importance to this, and the coaching staff headed by Ivankovic has had many in-depth communications with Zhang Linpeng. Ivan said that any player in a team will make mistakes, but everyone should not dwell on the mistakes themselves, but should make up for them through the efforts of the whole team. Now everyone should get over the disappointment of being tied with the Singaporean team, prepare for the home game with a new mental outlook, and try their best to win.
Zhang Linpeng also revealed his inner thoughts to the whole team. He said that what he said after the game was indeed the truest thought. He still believes that if he cannot lead the team to win together, he cannot contribute to the team. He should quit the national team, but his expression was not fully considered, which caused unnecessary pressure on the team and teammates. For this, he also expressed his apology to the entire team.
It is understood that Zhang Linpeng suffered a serious knee injury and had to be blocked before every game, which had a great impact on his competitive state. In the away game against the Singapore team, he still played closed. Since he played every game as if it was his last game with the national team, the mistakes in that game made him deeply blame himself. After calm thinking, Zhang Linpeng’s thoughts changed significantly. He said: “My announcement of retiring from the national team was originally to make room for more young people. I believe they can fill the position I left. After these two days After thinking hard for days, I knew I should pay attention to the way I expressed myself. After communicating with the coaching staff in the past few days, I realized that quitting was not the only option. From now on, whether I stay as the main player, a substitute, or even unable to play, As long as I can contribute to the national team and as long as the national team still needs me, I will go all out and persevere to the end.”
Whether starting or on the bench, Zhang Linpeng will still appear as a member of the national football team in the second round of the China-Singapore match on March 26. However, the national team currently has no plans to hold a “National Team 100th Game Commemoration” event for Zhang Linpeng in the China-Singapore battle.