The coach is vacant to wait for the warm-up to be arranged first

  Can the national football team achieve a "steady win" when they make an appointment with New Zealand in March?

  The national football team, which has "disappeared" for nearly a year, finally has a new development.

On February 1, the national football warm-up match plan was finally settled. The Chinese Football Association officially announced that the national football team will play two warm-up matches with the New Zealand national football team on March 23 and 26.

  After three and a half years, the national football team finally got the opportunity to compete in an international A-level friendly match.

  There is no doubt that New Zealand, which is not as good as its own in the international rankings, is warming up. The goal of the national football team is to win and find confidence.

But what is embarrassing is that although the time for the warm-up match has been determined, the more critical question of the selection of the team coach and training members has not yet been clearly answered.

  On June 11, 2019, under the leadership of the former coach Lippi, the national football team had an appointment with Tajikistan at the Tianhe Sports Center.

In the next three and a half years, the national football team has never organized an international A-level friendly match.

During the preparation for the top 40 and top 12 matches, I only had exchanges with a few Chinese Super League teams or national echelon teams, and it is difficult to guarantee the warm-up effect.

  Under such circumstances, the opportunity of the national football team's warm-up match is particularly valuable.

Currently, the New Zealand national team ranks 105th in the world, while the national football team ranks 80th.

  Judging from the rankings, the national football team is expected to find the confidence lost in the top 12 through two warm-up matches, and at the same time make a good start for the new World Cup cycle.

  However, it is not easy for the national football team to win two games.

Historically, the New Zealand national team had three exchanges with the national football team, and the national football team drew 1:1 with their opponents, making it hard to tell the winner.

In this battle, New Zealand has the blessing of the home court, which will become their favorable factor in the game.

  At the same time, the uncertainty of the composition of the team makes it even more difficult for the national football team to say "sure win".

Since the end of the top 12 at the end of March last year, this most watched national team has almost been in a state of "disbandment", and has not carried out any form of training for nearly a year.

  To this day, no one has given a clear answer as to who will be the coach of the team.

The coach has not yet been decided, and the confirmation of the training lineup is even more impossible to talk about.

  Judging from the current situation, under the premise that Jankovic is confirmed as the coach of the U24 Asian Games team, Li Xiaopeng may continue to fulfill the coaching contract and lead the team to fight in New Zealand.

But what is certain is that the lineup of the new national football training team will have a lot of "changing blood" compared with the top 12 matches.

  In last year's top 12 matches, the average age of the national football lineup was close to 30 years old, and replacement is imperative.

In the last few games, Li Xiaopeng deliberately increased the chances of young players such as Gao Tianyi, Dai Weijun, and Zhu Chenjie to play, which is to pave the way for the new national football team.

In the new World Cup cycle, new and Mesozoic players will take the lead.

  The loss of the top 12 game made many fans' 4-year wait come to naught.

Now this national football team, which has not trained for nearly a year, has not yet finalized its coach and is facing a new generation, wants to get a "good start" from the "underdogs", I am afraid it is not as optimistic as the outside world thinks.

(Reporter Ji Yu)

  (Source: Qilu Evening News, Edition A09, February 2, 2023)