In October, they will face Vietnam and Saudi Arabia respectively. In November, they will face consecutive home games.
The Football Association strives to go home to the top 12 of the National Football Association
According to the plan, the Chinese team will play at home in Sharjah, UAE and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on October 7th and 12th, respectively, against the Vietnam team and Saudi Arabia in the fourth round of the Qatar World Preliminary Asian Finals 12. team.
After that, whether the Chinese team will continue to "wander" abroad or return to China to prepare for battle is quite interesting.
How long will the Chinese team "wander" overseas?
The calendar shows that the Chinese team will continue to play at home in the 5th and 6th rounds in November. The opponents are Oman and Australia. These two games are of strategic importance to the Chinese team's top 12 competition.
In addition, the second phase of the Chinese Super League is scheduled to kick off on December 1. If the national football team is still playing overseas in November, then according to the epidemic prevention regulations, the international players will not be able to participate in the Chinese Super League as scheduled.
To this end, the Chinese Football Association is going all out to communicate with all relevant parties, and strive to arrange the remaining home games of the top 12 national football matches in China.
The Chinese men's football team arrived in Sharjah on the evening of September 8th, local time, until the fourth round of the match on October 12th. The Chinese team will continue to stay in West Asia for more than one month.
How long will the Chinese team "wander" overseas?
This problem is not only a topic of concern to fans, but also a realistic problem faced by the team during the team's top 12.
Although for the Western Expedition, the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese team have made preparations to work and live overseas for more than 3 months.
However, for a team aiming to hit the World Cup finals, the "home court advantage" should be striving for.
Especially in the context of the first two rounds of the top 12 games without a goal, the Chinese team urgently needs to score points and win.
Judging from the previous two rounds, although the Chinese team played against the Vietnam team in the third round, the progress of their opponents was obvious to all. Moreover, in Sharjah, where the weather is relatively hot, the home court advantage that the Chinese team can use is actually very limited.
In the future, the Chinese team will challenge another powerful team, the Saudi team, on the away game. Combining factors such as "away game, refereeing, climate" and other factors, the difficulty for the Chinese team to score points in this campaign is no less than that of the previous two rounds.
Once the Chinese team is unable to achieve a relatively satisfactory record in the first four rounds, then the strategy and tactical choices for the next rounds are particularly critical.
Among them, the issue of whether the team can return to their home country to participate in the remaining home games is the most important issue.
If the Chinese team can face Oman and Australia at home, the chances of scoring points may increase.
Will the home match arrangement of the national football affect the Chinese Super League?
The Chinese Football Association had been committed to "preserving" the home court for the national football team before the start of the top 12 matches.
However, affected by the epidemic, as of the reconcentration of the team in Shanghai in mid-August, no domestic city has confirmed that it can host the team's home games.
As a result, the Chinese Football Association was forced to start the "Plan B" and arranged the team's first two home games in Doha, Qatar, and Sharjah, UAE.
However, even so, the association still actively communicates with all relevant parties during this period, hoping to arrange the rest of the team's home games to be played in China.
It is reported that related work is being actively promoted.
The AFC calendar shows that the 5th round of the top 12 matches of the Chinese team against Oman and the 6th round against the Australian team will be held on November 11 and 16 respectively.
If these two home games continue to be held overseas, even if the team returns to China on November 17, members of the delegation, including the international team, as entry personnel must accept no less than "14 + 7" days in accordance with the epidemic prevention regulations. Isolated and observed, then they will not be able to participate in the Super League as scheduled.
It can be seen that the Chinese team’s home game arrangements actually affect the operation of the Super League.
"Guarantee" the local home court, where are the candidate venues?
As of last weekend, the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Football Confederation's preparatory team have not yet finalized the specific schedule for the second stage of the Chinese Super League. One of the main reasons is that there are still certain variables in the arrangements for the national football home court.
The same may be affected by the Football Association Cup.
According to the plan, this season's Football Association Cup main match (32 teams including 16 Chinese Super League teams, 9 Chinese Super League teams, 6 Chinese League teams, and China Champion 1 team) will kick off around October 13th. On the 16th or 17th, sunset.
This means that the national football team will definitely not participate in the FA Cup.
However, in terms of schedule and venue arrangements, the Chinese Football Association also needs to take into account factors such as the preparation of the national football team and the arrangements for the second stage of the Chinese Super League, and make a relatively reasonable choice.
It is precisely because the specific work is more complicated that the group draw ceremony of the Football Association Cup has not yet taken place.
While the Chinese Football Association is making every effort to "protect" the home court for the national football team, it is also stepping up the selection of venues.
It is understood that Suzhou, which has successfully hosted major domestic events such as the National Football Team against Guam in the top 40 matches, the Chinese team against South Korea in the Women's Olympic preliminaries, and the Chinese Super League in the past two seasons, has become a candidate for the National Football Team's home game in November. One of the cities.
The specific reason is not difficult to analyze—Suzhou City has accumulated rich experience in epidemic prevention, reception, and competition organization in the process of hosting major football matches.
If the Chinese team confirms that they can participate in the two games in November at home, then after the visit to the Saudi team on October 12, the team will have a high probability of entering the country from Shanghai, and may follow the example of the Chinese women's football team through bubble prevention. The closed loop was directly transferred to the Suzhou competition area, while being isolated as required, while preparing for the battle in a quiet environment.
And because the Suzhou Division will also host the second stage of the Super League, some international players can easily return to the club team to compete after participating in the top 12 matches.
Text/Reporter Xiao Geng Coordinating/Du Rui