The national football team was placed in a group with Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia in the round of eighteen, and this group is the group of death for the Chinese team. It is unlikely that the national football team will qualify from the group of death, and the coach of the team, Ivankovic, has a deep understanding of this. Ivankovic feels that it is not easy to make the national team third or fourth in the group and advance to the next stage of the world preliminaries. Therefore, Ivankovic began to examine the form of the players early.
At the same time, Ivankovic finalized the national football team's squad for the top 18 in advance. This international squad basically includes local players who have performed well in the Chinese Super League, and Huang Zichang, Hu Hetao, Zhang Yuan, and Han Jiaqi, who were highly demanded by fans before, are all on this list. In addition, there will be a new face in the naturalized position of the national football team, he is Hou Yongyong from the Norway First League.
Hou Yongyong scored goals when he played in the Norway First Division this season and became a Golden Boot striker. Therefore, both the Football Association and the national football team have noticed Hou Yongyong. If nothing else, Hou Yongyong will become Wu Lei's new partner in the top 18. Hou Yongyong is willing to play in the top 18 for the national football team, in addition to his own willingness to play for the national football team, the national football coach Ivankovic is also indispensable.
Ivankovic personally persuaded Hou Yongyong, the European Golden Boot, to partner him with Wu Lei in the round of 18. Next, it depends on whether Hou Yongyong can perform well when he represents the national football team in the top 18 matches. The national football team met Japan in the first game of the round of eighteen, and it was an away game. The goal of the fans for the national football team to challenge Japan away is to hope to get a point.
Although, Ivankovic once led Oman to victory over Japan in the last World Preliminary Tournament. However, fans do not expect Ivankovic to also lead the national football team to victory over Japan, as long as the national football team can play in this game, if they can get a point, it will be a windfall. I believe that the performance of the national football team at that time will not disappoint the media and fans.