The head coach of the national football team, Ivankovic, is about to lead the team to the "life and death battle" of the world preliminary match in June. Visual China
Source: China Youth Daily Guo Jian
On the evening of May 21, the 13th round of the Chinese Super League competition was about to start, and the focus of the match made the fans unable to resist early discussion: the leader Shanghai Shenhua team challenged the newly changed Henan team, which had lost four consecutive games away. A core foreign aid was injured, and the ability to attack and organize was greatly affected. A point fell straight into the relegation zone to try to bounce back, The comparison between the two sides' desire to win and their combat effectiveness is not as obvious as the ranking; Beijing Guoan Team, once in good condition, visited Qingdao Manatee Team. The guest team was severely injured and needed to be adjusted. The home team, Qingdao Manatee Team, was sent off for an empty match this week. The local police detained seven people who disturbed the game order in the youth football field last week according to law and ordered them not to enter the stadium to watch similar games within 12 months, which also demonstrated the responsibility of the local competition area; One day later, Shanghai Seaport Team, ranking second in the league, will play Chengdu Rongcheng Team, ranking third in the league, at home. Last season, Chengdu Rongcheng double killed the seaport team. Now, it has joined the "Chong Guan Group" and is trying to maintain its pursuit of the leaders. However, the home team Haigang has scored 37 goals in the past 11 games this season, which can be called "horrible" ——The second and third place competition in the 13th round of the league will directly affect the trend of the league's half way championship competition. The next round of the 13th and 14th round of this week's double match is also the peak period before the national football team regroups to compete in the top 36 of the World Cup qualifiers and the CSL is about to enter a 20 day interval.
Ivankovic, the head coach of the national football team, plans to announce the new national team training list after the 13th round of the league tournament on May 22. For the national football team who aspires to enter the top 18 Asian matches of the 2026 US Canada Mexico World Cup, the match against Thailand in Shenyang on June 6 can be called a "life and death battle": if you win, you will qualify one round ahead of time; if you fail, you will give your opponent the initiative to qualify, After all, it is self-evident that it is difficult to score points in the last round of the away game against South Korea on June 11.
Ivankovic went to the main stadium of Shenyang Olympic Sports Center for investigation last week. The national football team facing the battle of life and death will start training in Shenyang on May 27. The biggest difficulty that the national football team needs to overcome now is the leading striker Wu Lei, who has been in good condition in the league Zhang Yuning and Zhang Yuning were unable to play against Thailand: Wu Lei received one yellow card against South Korea and Singapore at home, two suspended for one game in total, while Zhang Yuning was checked and confirmed that the medial collateral ligament of the left knee joint was injured (partially torn), the meniscus was injured, and the infrapatellar fat pad was injured after the Beijing Guoan away defeat against Changchun Yatai, It needs to be reexamined after 3 weeks, and the schedule given by the medical team is "no less than 4-6 weeks for complete recovery".
If Zhang Yuling had not been injured, Ivankovic would have been satisfied with this round of the league: the 12th round of the league started with a 2-0 victory over Qingdao Hainius at the home of Shanghai Shenhua (international player Jiang Shenglong scored), and ended with a 3-5 defeat at the home of Shanghai Haigang at the west coast of Qingdao (naturalized striker Alan Meikai scored twice). He scored a total of 43 goals in eight games, breaking the record of 37 goals in the 15th round of the 2018 season, In the 4-1 victory over Meizhou Hakka in Chengdu Rongcheng away game, Wei Shihao scored two goals and Exxon recovered. Even Tan Long, a veteran of Changchun Yatai who did not score, also performed well. However, it was also the unexpected defeat of Beijing Guoan away game that forced Ivankovich to accept the bad reality of the sudden loss of three international players: except Zhang Yuling, Lin Liangming suffered a strain on the biceps femoris of his left thigh. "It takes no less than two weeks for him to fully recover". Li Lei, who is responsible for the dual task of attacking and defending on the side, was the most seriously injured, with his left foot torn from the anterior ligament of the fibula, "Complete recovery shall not be less than 8 weeks".
Therefore, in the absence of the two major strikers, Ivankovic's choice must be to push the hot Alan and Weishihao into the front line, and the defense line can also be handed over to the two strong defenders in Shanghai who play a stable role. Only the deployment of the midfield needs the national football coach team to focus on planning, weighing the "delivery of artillery shells" and the hardness of the midfield deployment.
Refusing to be impetuous and keeping a stable attitude is the key to the victory of the national football team against Thailand at home. In fact, the national football team is affected by the injury, while Mikelson, the main defender of Thailand's naturalized team, is also unable to play in the top 36 of the Danish league with a knee injury - Mikelson was also absent due to injury when the national football team defeated Thailand at home, Considered by Thai fans as an important reason for losing the game - there will be League Cup and FA Cup competitions after the end of the Thai League this week (May 26), and many international players, including attacking core Sam Krasin, may not join the team until June 2 before the Thai team leaves for Shenyang. The pressure of Masayoshi Ishii, the head coach of the Thai team, will not be less than that of Ivankovic. After all, the Thai team will be eliminated in advance after losing in Shenyang. Only by taking points home can we fight for a chance of survival.
After the league tournament this week, Chinese football once again entered the "national football time" that most concerned the fans. The results of the home game against Thailand and the away game against South Korea will directly affect the development trend of the national football team in the next three years: qualifying for the top 18 matches means that from September this year to June next year, the national football team can play at least 10 more top Asian games. If you can't reach the top 18, you will not need to form a team to participate in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifier until March next year. In the face of the improving league environment, Chinese fans naturally do not want to see the worst results.
