If the two Round of 18 matches in September are "far below expectations", the expectations for the two Round of 18 matches in October are quite pessimistic, and at the same time, the trust in coach Ivan is also very low, and the opponent is still strong, except for Australia, Indonesia, which is armed with naturalized players, has been reborn. In this context, can the national football team stage a miracle?
In the round of 18 in September, Chinese football suffered two "accidents": the first away game against Japan, the outside world generally believed that the national football team had almost no possibility of winning, and even thought that losing no more than 3 games was an acceptable result, but the national football team finally lost by 7 goals, giving Chinese fans a hammer; In the second game against Saudi Arabia at home, although the outside world has the expectation of scoring points, the expectation is not high, but the national football team led with the opponent's own goal in the 14th minute, and a few minutes later the Saudi team received a red card and played one less, the tragedy is that the rich national football team did not catch it, and finally lost the game 1-2.
A fiasco beyond the expectations of the fans, coupled with an unexpected surprise that failed to catch, led to the fans' expectations directly dropped to a "record low", even in the Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, although the national football team and the then coach Jankovic were criticized, but they only lost one game, although it was zero goals, but only one goal was conceded in 3 games.
But now, after only two rounds of the round of 18, the national football team has lost two in a row, becoming one of three teams with two consecutive defeats, the other two being Oman and Kyrgyzstan. The national football team scored 1 goal and conceded 9 goals, Oman scored 1 goal and conceded 4 goals, Kyrgyzstan scored 2 goals and conceded 4 goals, relatively speaking, Oman and Kyrgyzstan look more normal.
Admittedly, the grouping and schedule of the national football team are relatively difficult, and the first two rounds were against World Cup regulars Japan and Saudi Arabia, but the fans did not demand results, and the content of the national football team in the game actually made fans very desperate.
led the team to two consecutive defeats, the first game failed to stabilize the team in the second half, and the second game was in the second half when there were problems with on-the-spot command such as slow substitutions, which led to the lowest trust in Ivan from the outside world.
Ivan's retention has become an established fact, and in the Chinese Super League, there are many foreign teachers who have had the experience of "first suppressing and then promoting". But objectively speaking, at the national team level, such a transition is more difficult, for the simple reason that in the professional league, the club has the absolute right to speak, and the players have no choice, but at the national team level, the Football Association has no coercive power on the players.
On October 4, Ivan said in an interview: "We are in a difficult group, the next game against Australia. Our last four opponents, Korea (Round of 36), Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia, are among the best teams in Asia. We try to play our best every game, to get as many points as possible, and for us, every point is precious. ”
Ivan also said: "The national football team is going through the old and the new, and the next opponent, Australia is a World Cup regular, they are certainly the favourites to win, but we have to play our game well and try to show the best form; Indonesia has carried out mass naturalization, there are eight to ten naturalized players, and they must not be taken lightly. ”
So, will there be a change in October?
A fact is that in recent years, the overall mental outlook of the national football team is not bad, after all, in the history of the national football team, infighting between players, conflicts between players and coaches are not uncommon, especially between the 2006 World Cup and the 2010 World Cup, it can be said that chaos is numerous, and in the era of Jinyuan football, the phenomenon of national players not working is often occurring.
At present, it is true that some players have chosen to escape due to the bad public opinion environment, but the international players who play for the national football team are at least working hard, which is actually the basis for the change of the national football team.
But if the national football team wants to have a real improvement, Ivan also needs to change. After the game in September, Ivan and the Football Association had a comprehensive communication, but whether this communication is useful or not, and whether Ivan can "improve", I am afraid can only be tested in the game.