Reporter Chen Yong reported that on April 20, U23 national team coach Yankovic, who was isolating in Haikou and leading the team for closed training, revealed in an interview that after Zhu Chenjie and Dai Weijun joined the U23 national team, three over-aged players, Zhang Linpeng, Wu Xi and Zhang Yuning, also joined the team and conducted their first joint training on the same day. At this point, the U23 national team has been officially formed, and they will participate in the East Asian Cup in July and the Asian Games in September, but the Chinese Super League will not be suspended at that time.
The U23 national team is a 1999 age group player, in mid-March, they went to the UAE to participate in the Dubai Cup, three games are 0-1 UAE U23, 4-2 Thailand U23, 0-3 UAE U23, in addition, they also played two warm-up matches with two local clubs, 1-1 Abu Dhabi Waheda, 3-0 Liwa FC, with a total record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.
After finishing the Dubai match mission, on April 3, the U23 national team and the national football team returned to China together, and then quarantined and trained in Hainan.
After returning to China, two age-appropriate internationals Zhu Chenjie and Dai Weijun joined the U23 national team together, and before that, Jiang Shenglong, Wu Shaocong, Han Jiaqi, who were selected for the national team training list, have returned.
The U23 national team's mission is the East Asian Cup in July and the Asian Games in September this year, the East Asian Cup was originally scheduled to be held in China, but due to the epidemic factor, it was changed to Japan, and the time was July 19 to 27. After playing the East Asian Cup, they returned to China to be quarantined as usual, then to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games, and then to quarantine.
In other words, from the beginning of July to early or mid-October, the players of the U23 national team will not be able to participate in the league.
In terms of over-aged players, this newspaper has previously suggested recruiting 97 and 98 age groups. However, in order to further enhance the strength of the U23 national team, the Football Association and the U23 national team in addition to recruiting Zhang Yuning, but also finalized Zhang Linpeng and Wu Xi, two veterans, on the 20th, the three have been trained with the U23 national team.
Recruited Zhang Linpeng, for the U23 national team's defender line to add an experienced veteran, in the current national team team, Zhang Linpeng is also the oldest player in the defensive line; as for Wu Xi, it is to make up for the biggest shortcoming of the U23 national team, that is, the back; as for Zhang Yuning, he is one of the few international players in the national team in the top 12 this year, let him join the U23 national team, naturally hoping to improve the team's scoring ability.
Previously, there were rumors that Jankovic did not want to recruit overage players, but there was no accurate source of this information, and after the three joined the team, Jankovic's speech also made this statement meaningless.
"If I could, I would like to choose far more than three players in the adult national team." Jankovic said: "I understand that people will pay attention to the issue of candidates, but I don't want to put pressure on the players, I will not let them do high-intensity training, the main thing now is to let them feel the atmosphere of this team, everyone understands each other. ”
Commenting on the role of overage players, Jankovic said: "On the one hand, I hope that overage players can make up for some of the technical and tactical deficiencies of the team; on the other hand, they want to be role models for young players. In addition, I hope that over-aged players can become a bridge for The heritage of Chinese football, and footballers of different generations can defend our home stadium in Hangzhou with the same fighting spirit. ”
In addition, this newspaper learned that after the national team lost to the round of 12, the Football Association attaches great importance to the U23 national team, and the focus of work has shifted to this team, and the recruitment of three over-aged players is one of the measures. The U23 national team undertakes the two main tasks at the level of the National Brand of Chinese men's football this year, and in the context of the crisis of trust in the poor performance of the national football team, the Football Association also hopes that the U23 national team can deliver better performances in the East Asian Cup and the Asian Games, and if it can be achieved, it will certainly boost the morale and confidence of Chinese football to a certain extent. Therefore, the preparation of the U23 national team is regarded as very important.
However, with the lessons of the national team in front, the outside world is also worried that the Football Association will repeat the mistakes of the league to make way for the national team because of this emphasis. However, according to this newspaper, as of now, the relevant preparations of the Chinese Super League have not been affected by the U23 national team, and the Chinese Super League will not be suspended because the U23 national team has a game after the restart.
However, at present, many clubs will be affected by the recruitment of the U23 national team, some of which have a great impact, for example, if Guoan loses the main striker Zhang Yuning, the strength of the front line must be greatly hit; the biggest impact is the natural Shenhua, originally, they were recruited Zhu Chenjie, Wen Jiabao and Jiang Shenglong, and now, the core of the midfield Wu Xi has also joined the U23 national team, in this case, Shenhua's performance is also affected.
In the case of the Chinese Super League not giving way, the conventional response is to reduce the U23 policy, but such as Guoan and Shenhua, what has been lost is the absolute main force of the team, and it is difficult to make up for the reduction of the U23 player quota, which is also the key to the preparation team that plagues the Chinese Football Association and the China Football Federation.