After the Japanese Football Association and the Korean Football Association have successively confirmed that they will assign the men’s national football team composed of players from their own professional leagues to participate in this year’s East Asia Cup, the Chinese Football Association will choose a men’s football representative team that deserves attention from all walks of life. The Beiqing Daily reporter learned that because the East Asia Cup is an A-level event certified by FIFA, according to the consensus reached by the East Asian Football Federation, each participating team will be represented by the “member association representative team (national team)” regardless of the age structure of the players. Participate in name. It is understood that taking into account the preparations for the new Asian Games and the 2023 Asian Cup, the Chinese Football Association will most likely select a national men’s football team that is mainly composed of players of the 1999 age group and mixed with some over-age elite players. this competition. Next, the Chinese Football Association will negotiate with all parties including clubs on the recruitment of players, and strive to send a relatively strong lineup to participate in the competition, so as to accumulate experience for the Chinese team in the next competitions and win competitive interests.
The 2022 East Asian Cup Football Championship (East Asian Final Four) originally planned to be held in China was relocated to Japan for some reason. It is understood that since this event is a high-quality event launched by the member associations of the East Asian Football Federation to promote the development of the football level of countries (regions) in the region, the event was declared by the East Asian Football Federation and finally certified by FIFA as a International A-level competition. According to the relevant regulations of FIFA and the consensus reached within the East Asian Football Federation, the men’s football teams participating in this East Asian Cup must participate in the name of the representative team (national team) of the member association.
Known information shows that the Japanese Football Association and the Korean Football Association have decided to assign national teams composed of elite players from their own leagues to participate in this East Asia in order to cooperate with their respective national teams to inspect players and train their teams, considering that their respective national teams have entered the final stage of the Qatar World Cup. cup.
Before that, the Chinese Football Association had planned to send a men’s football team with players of the 1999 age group as the main members to Japan to participate in the competition in consideration of the preparation needs of the Hangzhou Asian Games. However, with the confirmation of the postponement of the Hangzhou Asian Games, the relevant parties have to reconsider what kind of men’s football team will be selected by the Chinese Football Association.
It should be noted that although the East Asia Cup is an international A-level event, although the ranking point coefficient is lower than that of major competitions such as the World Preliminaries and Asian Preliminaries, it will still have an impact on the international ranking points of each team. Fractionation has an impact. The Chinese team is currently ranked 78th in the world and 11th in the AFC. Since the end of the Qatar World Preliminary Tournament at the end of March this year, the team has not participated in any competitions. And there is a high probability that other international competitions cannot be implemented during the international competition day cycle (September) before the Qatar World Cup kicks off. No competition means that no new international ranking points will be obtained.
However, most of the AFC member association teams (national teams) have arranged a sufficient number of international competitions (including Asian Cup qualifiers and international warm-up matches) in June and September this year. Teams whose international rankings are closer to the Chinese team may take advantage of this opportunity to overtake the Chinese team in the rankings (for example, the Uzbekistan team has already surpassed the Chinese team), and once the Chinese team further falls in the AFC ranking, it will be It is possible that they will miss the second position in the Asian Cup next year, which means that the possibility of them encountering more rivals in the group stage will increase. From the perspective of maintaining the competitive interests of the Chinese team, “sending a team to play the East Asia Cup” is a must for the Chinese Football Association.
In addition, the East Asia Cup is not only an important warm-up for preparing for the Asian Games football match, but also an important training for the Chinese team before the Asian Cup next year. Although as of now, the answer to the question of whether the current national football coach Li Xiaopeng will stay or stay has not been officially confirmed. However, under the circumstance that the Chinese Football Association cannot visit and participate in the competition in the short term and cannot invite foreign teams to warm up in China, the East Asia Cup has become the only training opportunity for the Chinese team this year. Therefore, no matter who is in charge of the national football team in the future, the Chinese team should make full use of this opportunity to train the team.
Judging from the personnel situation, among the players of the 1999 age group, Dai Weijun, Zhu Chenjie and other players have represented the national team as the main force in the Qatar World Preliminaries. Elite players of this age group are also an important force for the future national team to compete in the Asian Cup. From this perspective, the Chinese team that appeared in this East Asian Cup will build a “prototype” that will impact next year’s World Cup and the next World Preliminaries. Unsurprisingly, the Chinese Football Association will select a team mainly composed of players of the 1999 age group, together with some “overage” players, to form a mixed national football team to compete in Japan.
It is reported that the Chinese Football Association and the coaching staff headed by Jankovic have recently communicated about the recruitment of players. All parties even made a thorough investigation on the prospect of the target candidate recruitment. Before that, three overage players, Zhang Yuning, Wu Xi and Zhang Linpeng, had participated in the joint training of the 1999 age group. And they are also the key candidates for the Chinese team’s expedition.In addition, a few international players, including naturalized player Jiang Guangtai, are also on the list of candidates.Whether the recruitment can finally be made depends on the active communication between the Chinese Football Association and the club. On June 24, Shanghai Shenhua team coach Wu Jingui stated that the Chinese team may recruit many players of the team, including Wu Xi, to participate in the East Asia Cup, saying that the entire team will overcome difficulties and fully support the national team in preparing for the game.
It should be noted that FIFA has decided to increase the number of players registered for each participating team in the Qatar World Cup finals from 23 to 26 in previous editions. Therefore, the East Asian Football Federation is also likely to implement the rules on the number of registrations for the East Asian Cup teams in accordance with this standard. (Text/Xiao Zhen from Beiqing Sports)Return to Sohu, see more
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