The national football team is preparing for the Asian Cup, and in the face of the poor performance in the last World Preliminary Tournament, coach Jankovic believes that the warm-up match with the Oman team will be the best opportunity to boost morale. It was 15 years since the national team last beat Oman, and this game is very important for Jankovic. Previously, the national football team has played Oman 7 times, but since the 2008 warm-up match lost 1-3 at home to Oman, the national football team has not won again.
In the previous Qatar World Preliminary Tournament, the national football team was even more at a disadvantage, drawing 1-1 at home with the Oman team, and losing 0-2 away from home, which completely lost the opportunity for the national football team to enter the Qatar World Cup. In this crucial warm-up game, Jankovic will send Zhang Yuning and Wu Lei to attack the Oman backline. Although Tan Long has always been the main center forward of the national football team, under the account of Jankovic, as Zhang Yuning gradually recovers, the younger Zhang Yuning will also return to the starting lineup.
As for the midfield, Jankovic plans to have Wu Xi and Li Ke in the middle, while Wei Shihao and Liu Binbin will be separated on either side. Although the outside world has called for Jankovic to recruit the national football team in the Han Super League and Fernando, the two veterans have completely bid farewell to the national football team when the young national football squad has become a trend. The national football team plans to train for nearly 3 weeks and is scheduled to participate in 4 warm-up matches. Among them, the first warm-up opponent has been finalized as the 10th ranked Oman team in Asia.
Jankovic took this warm-up match very seriously, as Oman had a similar technical style to the national team's opponents in the Asian Cup group stage, Qatar. And the most important point is that the history of the matchup between the national football team and the Oman team has not been rewritten for 15 years. The national football team easily defeated Oman with a score of 6-1 in the 1998 Asian Games, but since the 2008 warm-up match lost 1-3 at home to the Oman team, the national football team has not won again.
In the last Qatar World Preliminary Tournament, the national football team lost 0-2 to the Oman team away, which completely lost the opportunity for the national football team to enter the Qatar World Cup. After Jankovic took over the national football team, the lineup has changed dramatically. Naturalized players Ackerson, Luo Guofu, and Alan have faded out of the national football team, and there are only two naturalized players left, Li Ke and Jiang Guangtai. The decline in the strength of the national football team is inevitable, coupled with the poor performance of the national football team in recent warm-up matches and the previous two world preliminaries, so this warm-up match between the national football team and the Oman team is also the best opportunity for the national football team to boost morale.
Jankovic faces a happy annoyance - in the national football backline, he needs to decide who will be the starter. Because Jiang Guangtai and Li Shuai have returned from injury, this will affect the position of Liu Yang and even Zhu Chenjie. Jankovic will make decisions based on the form of his players, and their performances in these warm-up games will also determine their chances of playing in the Asian Cup.