This article**[China News Network];
**Beijing, February 24 (Reporter Bian Liqun) "Do you have the confidence to lead the national football team to the 2026 World Cup?" ”
Yes, I have faith. Now there is a group of people who are as confident as I am, not just the players. We assure you that we will do our best and do everything we can. I also hope to say 'yes' to you, and if we go to the World Cup, I'll invite you." ”
This is a Q&A between coach Jankovic and young fans at a national football fan meeting in October last year.
As usual, Jankovic reiterated his goal of reaching the World Cup, and when confronted with tough questions, he once again answered them with the same clarity.
But after just four months, the answer was "no". On the 24th, the Chinese Football Association announced that due to the failure of the national football team to qualify for the knockout stage of the Asian Cup, the coaching contract of the head coach and coaching team has been automatically terminated according to the agreement, and Jankovic will no longer serve as the head coach of the Chinese national men's football team.
The least qualified. Jankovic was promoted from the Asian Games team to coach the national football team on February 25 last year, when there was less than a month left before the team embarked on the journey to prepare for the US-Canada-Mexico World Preliminary Tournament.
For this choice, some people in the industry think that he is suitable for this mediocre national football team, but there is no shortage of doubts.
At that time, we published an article "National Football Team, Dead Horses as Live Horse Doctors". This is not disrespectful to Jankovic, but with his qualifications, it is indeed difficult for people to believe that they can lead this national football team that even Lippi "can't carry". What's more, the situation today is far worse and more complicated than it was back then.
Before taking over the Chinese national youth team in 2018, Jankovic had coached teams such as Red Star Belgrade and Standard Liege, and did not have many outstanding achievements during his tenure, and most of them left after one year of coaching, only coaching the first division team Mechelen for more than 2 years. In terms of seniority, he can be regarded as the lowest among the previous national football coaches.
Before becoming the coach of the national football team, Jankovic did not lead the team to play too many major tournaments in the more than four years he coached in China, and most of the time he led the team to prepare for the Asian Games.
The record is mediocre. The key is that if the national football team is really regarded as a "dead horse", there is no problem with inviting Jankovic. But with the attention and pressure of the national football team, it is absolutely impossible to do this. So in the end, I chose Jankovic, which seemed a little too high or too low.
In the year of coaching the national football team, Jankovic led the team to 17 games, with 6 wins, 4 draws and 7 losses, two of which were internal warm-up matches with local clubs in the UAE in preparation for the Asian Cup, which itself has limited gold content.
In these games, the national football team faced teams ranked higher than itself without exception and all lost. For example: in the warm-up match against the Uzbekistan team, the whole game was passive and lost 1:2; Facing South Korea 0:3 at home in the World Preliminaries; The Asian Cup was defeated 0:1 by the rotating Qatar team.
Facing teams with lower rankings than themselves, the national football scene is often passive, such as: the warm-up match was a difficult draw with the Malaysian team 1:1, and the 0:1 loss to Syria, which did not have much strength; In the group stage of the Asian Cup, they drew 0-0 with Tajikistan and Lebanon.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with a steady style of play, after all, the strength of the national football team is limited, and the key is whether it can fully exert its own limited strength.
The reality is that in these games, except for the first win against Thailand in the first game of the World Preliminary Tournament, the national football team under Jankovic has performed very mediocre.
It is precisely because of the victory over the Thai team that Jankovic has the opportunity to lead the team to the Asian Cup. Unfortunately, in the end, he led the team to the worst record in team history and was dismissed.
Pay for mistakes.
From a professional point of view, Jankovic is not picky, and he is also very humble and friendly. In the face of doubts and sharp questions at the press conference, he always answered them calmly.
But this personality and style seem to be more like that of a diplomat or a press spokesman. And this kind of answer, once or twice, is fresh, but each time the same words are repeated, it becomes less and less convincing.
For example, before the World Preliminaries, Jankovic always repeated "found problems and solved them" and "collected useful information" in every press conference.
But any reporter who has often covered the national football team live in the past year, as soon as Jankovic speaks, he can predict what he will say.
So much so that when it came to the Asian Cup, even Jankovic himself quipped: "You may think my press conference is boring." "In the face of this, you can imagine the scene when Jankovic led the team.
At the beginning of his tenure, Jankovic emphasized team spirit and hard-working spirit, paid attention to the physical reserve and strength strength of players, and the body fat percentage should not exceed 10%. Before leading the team to the first battle, 20 days of "devil training" were conducted.
Given the special background of Chinese football at that time, there was nothing wrong with doing so. But in the long run, overly rigid management can be counterproductive. As time goes on, when a game doesn't go well or the results don't match expectations, it can also create a rift between the players and the coach.
It is understood that some players do not agree with Jankovic's daily training and technical and tactical arrangements. When the manager can't fully control the players, the team's combat effectiveness on the field will definitely be affected to a certain extent.
Of course, it is absolutely unfair to blame Jankovic for all the problems, after all, this young and limited national football team is facing in Asia.
Second- and third-rate teams can hardly be said to have an advantage. But not to mention promotion and promotion, for a coach, if he can't give full play to the limited strength of the team, this is obviously unqualified.
It is foreseeable that even if a new coach comes, it will be difficult to lead such a national football team to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. From this point of view, there is a bit of a change of coach for the sake of changing the commander.
But in terms of results, the national football team must at least complete the task of advancing to the top 18 of the World Preliminaries. Once absent from such a level of competition, the national football team will be pulled farther and farther away.
If Jankovic continues to lead the team, regardless of the two-legged match against Singapore, the crucial match against Thailand alone may be a bigger loss. Changing a more qualified coach to lead this national football team, awakening the team's spirit, and bringing something new is the only option at present.
In any case, thanks to Jankovic. As he himself said at the beginning, he did everything he could. (ENDS).