I don't think too much should be put into that U-23 tournament. They were playing with different players, different coach, different system. That shouldn't affect the NT setup. Gao Hongbo had been experimental in his last stint as NT coach as well, and it paid dividends in some ways because it is a great motivator for young players to know they have a chance, and the team performances were generally higher tempo and more passionate. Gao seems to have his style and he picks players who fit that style. Most offensive players he's picked are known to be hard workers on the pitch. Disappointed about Huang Bowen though as he fits that mold and should be a successor of sorts to Zheng Zhi in the midfield, but I suppose that's what Wu Xi is there for. I am a bit shocked at the Jiang Ning inclusion though. He has never been a good performer on the national level, aging (which goes against Gao's general philosophy), and to me, redundant in a lineup with better pure wingers like Yu Hanchao, Hao Junmin, Sun Ke, and Yu Hai, as well as better versatile offensive players like Wu Lei and Gao Lin. I'd have much rather seen someone else given a chance, or a proven all-action player like Zhang Chengdong who can fill in at right back as well.
CFA announces the 24-man squad preparing for the last two matches of World Cup qualifiers against Maldives on 24 March and Qatar on 29. The intensive training will be from 16 till 30. Players list: Beijing Guo'an: Yu Dabao, Zhang Chengdong, Zhang Xizhe Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao: Feng Xiaoting, Gao Lin, Huang Bowen, Li Xuepeng, Zeng Cheng, Zhang Linpeng Hebei China Fortune: Ding Haifeng, Jiang Ning Henan Jianye: Yin Hongbo Jiangsu Suning: Li Ang, Ren Hang, Wu Xi Shandong Luneng: Hao Junmin, Wang Dalei, Yang Xu, Zhao Mingjian Shanghai SIPG: Cai Huikang, Wang Shenchao, Wu Lei, Yan Junling, Yu Hai Most notable exclusions are Zheng Zhi, Zheng Long, and Sun Ke
Good. I honestly don' think Sun Ke has been playing at a NT-level recently. Although he has knack for scoring international goals (aka at 2015 AFC Asian Cup), there are honestly better options than him right now. However, that being said, there is no way Jiang Ning should be chosen ahead of him. No idea what Gao Hongbo is thinking on that one
Qualification scenarios so far. (Will update again after the next matchday) In order to qualify, China has to win both Maldives (and win Maldives BIG to get a good goal difference) AND Qatar. Then cross their fingers and hope at least some of the other groups stumble so they can get best 2nd. Next Thu's games are mostly strong teams vs weak teams, I hope an upset can happen from other groups so China has a more favorable outcome. The final match-day is most important, a lot of big matches between 1st-place team and 2nd-place team. If only we had beaten Hong Kong just at least once. Then we will not have to worry about all these math. China never had the chance to face the big boys (e.g. Iran, Japan), because they always stumble at that ONE crucial game in the small group qualifiers. Either they were complacent vs. their opponents (as was the case when they drew 1-1 vs. Indonesia during Asia Cup qualifiers), or they were intimidated by the opponent team or fans (as was the case for the Hong Kong game). I do not want to wait for another 4 more years! Don't disappoint me Team China!
To be honest i am prepared to see a new rock bottom of our NT with this generation and next generation. But after that i hope to see a big development. Nontheless, I will always hope for their best. By the way Zhang Yuning from Vitesse got called up too, according to transfermarkt.de.
Need a few miracles. And that's only assuming we can get the full 6 points from Maldives and Qatar. If Jordan loses to Bangladesh, or Uzbekistan loses to Phillipines or Bahrain, or Iraq loses to Thailand or Vietnam, or UAE loses to Saudi Arabia or Palestine, or Kuwait getting at most 1 point from South Korea and Myanmar.... And that's only the 2nd place teams... more difficult if a current first place team is displaced. So basically not impossible, but very improbable.
China 4 : 0 Maldives For all my ragging on Jiang Ning, he gets a hat-trick. Yang Xu scored the other.
There were no upsets in this round. Thought Thailand could beat Iraq then got heartbroken by that last minute own goal. I actually don't mind if China gets kicked out this time. Looking at the performance for the past few matches, we don't deserve to make it to the next round. Weak and predictable attack, and really poor mental strength. I don't think we have what it takes to beat Qatar - maybe we will draw. It seems like for the past few games - China games are mostly like this... - First 10-15 minutes, shows promise, does well - Rest of 1st half - can't penetrate opponent defense (if playing vs. weaker team) / barely copes with opponent attack (if playing vs. stronger team) - Last 30 minutes - starts panicking, mis-passes, mis-fires etc Also we need to lower our expectations. In the past we could beat the likes of Maldives 10-0, 12-0 etc. Now we struggle to even win 4-0. Face the truth... we are just not good enough. In the long run, I think the only way to raise our standard is to improve CSL's standards, so that soccer careers will be seen as profitable to parents so they can send their kids to soccer school. And of course continue to send talents to Europe. There is no shortcut to improvement - I expect to wait 10-15 years before we finally become strong enough to be World Cup qualifier material.
The odds I would say are more along the lines of "improbable" rather than "very improbable". Remember results against the last place teams don't count for second in each group except for Iraq's due to Indonesia's disqualification. Assuming China wins against Qatar at home (tall ask, but not impossible since Qatar is assured advancement anyway), China will make it if two of these happen: UAE at home loses to Saudi Arabia (possible) Jordan doesn't win vs Australia who is playing at home (very likely) Iraq doesn't win against Vietnam in Iran (highly unlikely) North Korea doesn't beat the Philippines at home (possible) The Uzbek (qualified for sure) and Kuwait (game vs Laos doesn't count and it won't matter if they beat SK) games don't matter. IMO, Jordan is in almost as deep of trouble as China is despite the standings. Beating Australia away is going to be as unlikely as China beating Qatar at home; a draw should leave them with a lower GD than China (assuming China wins vs Qatar). So that leaves a UAE loss, a draw or loss for Iraq or a draw or loss for NK as the more difficult ones to predict. Iraq's going to get it done I think, NK probably will, and maybe slight edge to UAE to at least tie the game at home (too bad China couldn't wreck Maldives like Australia and Jordan did to their opponents today). But IF China gets a win against Qatar, I think advancement odds are close to 50/50.
I am thinking the ghost goal and the goalposts of the China vs Honk Kong and the too much late goals after the 90 minutes of Iraq, Syria, EAU etc in many games..........
Lol I wouldn't have too much hope because I seriously don't see this team being able to beat Qatar, which has surprisingly turned out to be one of the stronger Asian sides.
It's amazing what you can do with a bunch of new foreign signings in under a year. Anyway seriously this group seems to have turned out exactly how I feared it would with Hong Kong being up for a fight against China, while China lack any creativity or composure to score. In the end it seems both Hong Kong and China have cancelled each other out while Qatar breezed through this group.
I suggest nutritious European style of food instead of noodle base food. Chinese players seems lack stamina and creativity. You can fix the first one with a new diet and second one with importing foreign trainers.
Thank you for your suggestion. I am sure the Chinese posters over here will let their fa know to stop feeding their players noodles.
Northern Chinese, despite northerneast Chinese, eat Noodles in daily life, Northerneast Chinese and Southern Chinese prefer rice more than Noodles, in fect I believe most of them had never eat noodles for once in their life