On the morning of October 5, after the Chinese team completed its last training session at the Century Park Stadium in Pudong, Shanghai, the whole team set off for Adelaide, Australia, in the evening to prepare for the third round of the third stage of the Asian zone of the World Preliminary Championship with the Australia team.
The coaching staff of the national team made a difficult decision based on the injury diagnosis of the players, Wu Lei, Alan and Yang Zexiang did not travel with the team, and temporarily added Cheng Jin from Zhejiang and Hu Hetao from Chengdu Rongcheng to form a 23-man squad. This is the first time that the 21-year-old young player Hu Hetao has been selected for the national team.
In addition, Jiang Guangtai and Gao Zhunyi are injured because of their injuries, and their recent training in the national team has not been carried out normally. Before the game, it was still unknown whether the physical condition of the two would be able to compete.
The latest squad of the Chinese team
Shandong Taishan:
Wang Dalei, Gao Zhunyi, Liu Yang, Huang Zhengyu, Li Yuanyi, Xie Wenneng
Shanghai Shenhua:
Jiang Shenglong, Wang Haijian, Xu Haoyang, Fernando
Shanghai Seaport:
Yan Junling, Jiang Guangtai, Wei Zhen
Beijing Guoan:
Li Lei, Lin Liangming, Zhang Yuning
Chengdu Rongcheng:
Wei Shihao, Hu Hetao
Henan: Wang Shangyuan
Wuhan Three Towns: Liu Dianzuo
Shenzhen Xinpeng City: Baihelamu
Tianjin Jinmen Tigers: Han Pengfei
Zhejiang: Cheng Jin
Australia's first two rounds of the World Cup Preliminary Tournament were a shocking 1-0 defeat at home to Bahrain and a goalless draw away from Indonesia. After two games, Australia have not scored a goal, only one point, and are in fifth place in Group C, only higher than China, who are bottom of the team after two consecutive defeats.
The poor first two rounds of the third stage of the Australia qualifiers led to the sacking of coach Alexander-Arnold, who had been in charge of the Kangaroos for more than six years, and replaced him with the younger Popovich.
Popovich has coached primarily in the Australia domestic league in the past, with his highlight coming in the 2014 AFC Champions League with Western Sydney Wanderers.
In the AFC Champions League that year, the defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande met Western Sydney Wanderers in the 1/4 finals, and under the referee's blatant black whistle, Evergrande and Western Sydney Wanderers drew 2-2 over two legs, and were finally eliminated because of the disadvantage of fewer away goals. The referee's blatant favoritism made many Chinese fans remember the Western Sydney Wanderers team, and their coach at the time, Popovich, was inconspicuous under the aura of Evergrande's world-class coach Lippi.
After Popovich took over, he overhauled the Australia team, except for the team's most valuable 20-year-old hopeful, central defender Chirkati who played for Serie A side Parma, who was selected for the latest Australia national team squad due to injury, Popovich changed seven players in one go.
Changing the coach is like changing the knife, which is a metaphysics that is often obtained on the football field. Australia is changing coaches and trying to get out of trouble, and it is not a good thing for the Chinese team to encounter the Kangaroo Army at this time.
Australia's latest national team roster
Goalie:
Ryan (Roma) Serie A
Gauci (Aston Villa) Premier League
Izzo (Landes) Dan Super League
Fullback:
Boggs (Ipswich) Premier League
Miller (Hibernian) Su Super League
Rawls (Hartz) Soviet Super League
Bosch (Westerlo) Liga Match
Stensnes (Viking) Nob B
Soutar (Sheffield United) Championship
Thomas · Deng (Niigata Swan) Japanese Vocational Union
Beshi (Melbourne City) AFL
Gelia (Melbourne City) Australian Super League
Midfielder:
Longo (Ipswich) Premier League
Owen (St. Pauli) Bundesliga
Metcalfe (St. Pauli) Bundesliga
O'Neill (Standard Liege) is a match for the first division
McGree (Middlesbrough) Championship
Hrustic (Salernitana) Serie B
Bacchus (Mansfield) League One
Striker:
Stamatellopoulos (Motherwell) Super League
Silvera (Portsmouth) Championship
Ilankunda (Bayern Munich II) Germany Regional League
Goodwin (Mecca Unity) Saudi Arabian United
Duke (Machida Zevia) Japanese Vocational Federation
Arzani (Melbourne Victory) Australian Super League
Velupil (Melbourne Victory) Australian Super League
Australia's latest 26-man squad includes 18 players in Europe. Among them, there are 6 players from the top leagues of the five major leagues and other European countries, 4 players from the second and third leagues of the five major leagues, and 2 players from the second and second leagues of other European countries. In addition, there are three players each in the Saudi Arabian and Japan leagues in Asia, four players in the Australia domestic league, and one young player who plays for Bayern Munich II and participates in the Germany regional league.
China and Australia are no strangers to each other, the two sides have met a total of 16 times in the past, and the Chinese team is at the bottom with 4 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses, scoring 14 goals and conceding 26 goals.
China's most recent win over Australia was in the 2013 East Asian Cup, where they won 4-3 thanks to the contributions of Yu Dabao, Sun Ke, Yang Xu and Wu Lei. Now, Yang Xu and Sun Ke have retired, Yu Dabao has long faded out of the national team, Wu Lei is injured again, who will destroy the city for the Chinese team.
After the 2013 East Asian Cup, the two sides have met 3 times, with the Chinese team drawing 1 and losing 2, scoring 1 goal and conceding 6 goals. With such a performance of mutual performance, the gap in strength between the two sides has been increasing in recent years.
At present, the two most threatening scoring points in the Chinese team, Wu Lei and Alan are unable to play, and the offensive ability of the front line has been greatly reduced.
The Chinese head coach Ivankovic's line-up and on-the-spot response command are difficult to convince, and if he removes the offensive and defensive balance that he was very aggressive in the first game against Japan in this game, and fails to make effective adjustments in time when the situation is unfavorable, it may lead to disastrous consequences again.