Plan to participate in two international warm-up matches in late March
Is Li Xiaopeng leading the first training session of the National Football Team?
Considering the great task of preparing for and competing in the new cycle of the national football team, the Chinese Football Association plans to recruit foreign coaches with excellent professional skills, understanding of Asian football, and quick start to take over the team.
However, affected by various objective factors, as of now, the selection of coaches has not made substantial progress.
Under such circumstances, the first training session of the national football team in 2023, which was originally planned to start after the Lunar New Year, may still be led by the current local coach Li Xiaopeng.
As for whether and when the new foreign coach will be in place?
There is currently no definite statement.
Will visit New Zealand in late March
The calendar shows that the Chinese men's football team will participate in the second stage of the Asian region of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the final stage of the 2023 Asian Cup within this year.
After the end of March last year, the Qatar World Preliminary Tournament of the Asian Top 12 Tournament ended, the national football team has been "unemployed" for more than 9 months.
In order to assist the national football team in rebuilding and lay a solid foundation for this year's competitions, the Chinese Football Association has already begun to draw up a new cycle of national football preparation plans in the second half of last year.
According to the plan launched during the national team preparation (winter training) work conference held in Haikou in early December last year, the Chinese men's football team plans to resume participating in international warm-up matches starting this year.
The team's first training session of the year is planned to start after the Lunar New Year.
If all goes well, the team will also visit New Zealand in late March to participate in two international warm-up matches.
It is difficult to find a new coach before the Spring Festival
After the national football team has completed the preparation and competition tasks of the previous cycle, who will lead the team in the new cycle?
At present, the official channel has not given an exact statement.
However, in view of the various experiences and lessons encountered by the team in the previous week, after comprehensive consideration, the Chinese Football Association initially decided to invite foreign coaches with excellent professional skills, understanding of Asian football, and able to quickly get started to take over the national football team.
However, the selection of Yangshuai cannot be based on wishful thinking by either party. Whether the two parties can establish a cooperative relationship requires in-depth communication and consensus.
Prior to this, there was news that Queiroz, Paulo Bento, and Stojkovic who led Iran, South Korea, and Serbia to the World Cup in Qatar, and the former Jiangsu (Suning) team that won the 2020 season Olaroyu, the champion of the Chinese Super League, is a theoretical candidate for the national football coach selection.
It is understood that since Stojkovic and Olaroyu both have appointments with their current clubs, the possibility of taking over the Chinese team basically does not exist.
As for the other two, Queiroz seems to be more in line with the selection criteria of the Chinese Football Association.
However, at present, the selection of coaches is affected by objective factors and has not made substantial progress.
Some insiders believe that there are many factors that affect the selection of coaches, such as the salary standard of candidate coaches, whether the two parties agree on the team formation mode and team leadership philosophy, whether the two parties can reach a consensus on the team leadership goals, and so on.
These tasks take time to process.
Under such circumstances, it is unlikely that foreign coaches will take over the Chinese team before the Spring Festival.
The team needs to start preparing as soon as possible
However, the start of the preparations for the national football team cannot be delayed.
On the one hand, the national football team, which has been out of battle for a long time and has been absent from preparations for a long time, needs to complete the reorganization as soon as possible under the background that many veterans have faded out. , Whether it is a player or a Chinese coach, after a year of hard work on behalf of the club or the unit, most of them will choose to take a break around the Spring Festival, that is, before the club starts preparing for the new season.
If the National Football Team confirms to form a team for the Lunar New Year, then before the Spring Festival, the team must determine a list of basic personnel and notify them to prepare for the training camp in advance.
It can be seen that regardless of whether foreign coaches are in place, the Chinese team objectively needs to start preparations as soon as possible.
In the absence of new foreign coaches for the time being, it is already a high probability that local coaches will take the lead in organizing and leading the new national football team.
It is worth noting that as of now, the Chinese Football Association has not officially announced the change of the national football coach.
This means that the local coach Li Xiaopeng who led the team to participate in the last 4 rounds of the Qatar World Preliminary 12 is still the team's strict head coach. If the team's first training session of the new year is led by a local coach, then it is reasonable for Li Xiaopeng to become the first choice .
If Li Xiaopeng confirms that he will continue to lead the team, his status may not change temporarily, or he may be adjusted to be the head of the Chinese coach or the technical director of the national team.
As for whether and when foreign coaches will be in place in the end, it also depends on the progress of the coach selection work.
Text/Reporter Xiao Nan Coordinator/Du Rui
Beijing Youth Daily