The national football team will fight again against Palestine. The opponent is no longer a belly[the visiting team has many naturalized players and many of them play for top teams in Europe and America]
At 19:35 on June 20, the Chinese men’s football team will face the second opponent Palestine in this month’s international match day cycle at the Dalian Suoyu Bay Football Stadium. Like the match against Myanmar on the 16th, the minimum goal of the national football team in this game is still to win. However, as one of the participating teams in the 2023 Asian Cup, the Palestine team is far stronger than the Myanmar team, and the game is more reference for the Chinese team, which is also preparing for the Asian Cup. Therefore, if the Chinese team wants to win the opponent, it must not only remain strong At the same time, it is necessary to “tighten the fence” to achieve both offense and defense. Judging from the training situation in recent days, the Chinese team is likely to continue to use the personnel combination of the previous game in this game.
Match record
The last time the national football team won against an opponent was 14 years ago
The Palestine team is currently ranked 93rd in the world, only 12 behind the Chinese team. It is a rapidly rising team in Asian football in recent years and has entered the 2023 Asian Cup finals. The third team is the suitable “imaginary enemy” for the Chinese team in the process of preparing for the Asian Cup.
Statistics show that the two teams have played a total of 5 times since the 2006 Asian Cup qualifiers completed the first official match between the two sides. The Chinese team has an unbeaten record of 3 wins and 2 draws. However, the last time the national football team won against an opponent was already 14 years ago in July 2009. At that time, with the goals of Qu Bo, Gao Lin, and Yang Hao, the national football team once defeated the opponent 3-0.
The most recent confrontation between China and Pakistan was on November 20, 2018. At that time in Haikou, the Chinese team led by Lippi drew 1-1 with Feng Xiaoting’s goal. That game was actually the last official international warm-up match that the national football team participated in before playing in the 2019 Asian Cup. It is precisely because of the weak performance of the national football team on the spot that the outside world is generally not optimistic about the prospects of the team competing for the current Asian Cup.
home team ready
It is very likely to continue to use the 442 formation
For the current national football team led by Jankovic, facing up to the opponent is only one aspect of the work attitude. If the team wants to achieve the goal of winning, it must first do its own preparations. Judging from the two training sessions in March and June, Jankovic has built his national football team into a disciplined team, but what is most needed for victory is hard power. After the post-80s and post-85 players represented by Zheng Zhi, Hao Junmin, Feng Xiaoting, Gao Lin, and Huang Bowen have faded out of the national football team, the biggest problem facing the Chinese team is the insufficient supply of excellent players. The panic of the Chinese football defense in the Myanmar game and the slow rhythm of the team’s offensive and defensive transitions can be proved.
In the China-Myanmar match, Jankovic once launched a flexible formation of 343 offense and 442 defense for the national football team. If the Myanmar team converts one or two counter-attack opportunities created into goals, the situation of the game may change dramatically. In contrast, the Palestine team, which has entered the Asian Cup, has stronger offensive firepower, so the Chinese team must be more cautious in defense.
During the outdoor training on the morning of the 18th, defenders Wang Shenchao and Wei Zhen, who were absent from the match between China and Myanmar due to health reasons, and the joint training a few days ago, appeared at the training ground. However, one of the two had a simple training with the team, and the other did not participate at all. Joint training, judging from their current physical condition, it is difficult for them to participate in the game on the evening of the 20th. The arrangement of the Chinese team’s defensive personnel encountered difficulties.
Of course, according to the habit of leading troops, Jankovic will not easily adjust the tactics or personnel of the main push. Therefore, the Chinese team is likely to continue to use the 442 formation on the evening of the 20th, pursuing a balance of offense and defense. It is worth noting that in the China-Myanmar competition, apart from Wang Shenchao and Wei Zhen, only Li Lei, Mingming, Liu Dianzuo and Xie Pengfei failed to appear.
opponent intelligence
The Palestinian team currently has many naturalized players
The national football team chose the relatively weak Myanmar and Palestine teams as their opponents in this month’s warm-up match, obviously intending to pursue a complete victory and regain confidence. However, facing the Palestinian team, which has risen rapidly in recent years and has many naturalized players to help out, it is not easy for the national football team to win.
The Palestine Football Association officially became one of the FIFA member associations in 1998. At that time, affected by various objective factors, the level of Palestinian football was relatively low in Asian football as a whole, and they could only participate in low-level competitions such as the AFC Challenge Cup. However, in the past 10 years, the Palestine Football Association has been determined to reform. It not only introduced naturalized players from Europe and America in batches, but also hired foreign teachers to coach its national team to greatly improve the team’s strength. Take the Palestine team that drew with the Chinese team in an away game in 2018 as an example. The head coach who led the team at that time was Nouredine Ali from Algeria. During the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, the Palestine team remained unbeaten all the way and defeated the Philippines in the final to win the championship, making it to the Asian Cup finals for the first time in history.
With the help of naturalized players, the Palestine team achieved a good record in the 2018 World Cup preliminaries, and even almost advanced to the top 12 of the year. Of course, they successfully qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup finals. Statistics show that the Palestine team had an impressive record of 12 consecutive unbeaten games from 2016 to 2018. The FIFA ranking reached a record high in February 2018 (73rd in the world). From this point of view, it is no accident that this team has been able to enter the Asian Cup finals for three consecutive times.
Although the Chinese team played at home again this time, the strength of the opponent Palestine team should not be underestimated. In March this year, the Palestine team played against Bahrain. At that time, the team had 6 naturalized players including goalkeeper Kadura, defender Telmanini, forward Malouf, central defender Hamid, midfielder Candirana and forward Zihadr. In addition, in recent years, naturalized players from European and American countries, such as forward Islami and Zidan, midfielder Abdullah, center back Salam, midfielder Rashid, and right back Ed, have all been selected for the Palestinian team.
What is more worthy of the attention of the Chinese team is that there are still some players in the top European and American leagues in the Palestinian team. For example, the 24-year-old striker Dabach plays for the Aluca team in the Portuguese Super League, and his worth has reached 1.5 million euros, making him the most expensive player in Palestine. Marouf, who was born in Sweden, played for the Swedish Super League team. In addition, Palestinian players also appeared in leagues in Sweden, Chile, Egypt, Thailand, Indonesia and even Israel.
In the past two years, the competitive state of the Palestinian team has been good. During last year’s Asian Cup qualifiers, they beat Yemen 5-0 and the Philippines 4-0. In March of this year, they also defeated Bahrain 2-1 in the warm-up match, winning four consecutive victories in international competitions. In the Arab Cup at the end of 2021, the Palestinian team drew 1-1 with the Saudi U23 Olympic team. During the top 40 Qatar World Cup preliminaries in 2019, the Palestine team also defeated Uzbekistan 2-0 and drew Saudi Arabia 0-0. From this point of view, it will not be easy for the Chinese team to win against this opponent.
This group article/Reporter Xiao Nan
Coordinator/Wang Yong