Chao News client reporter Ying Luyang.
The national football team was eliminated from the Asian Cup group. Courtesy of Visual China.
After the worst result in the Asian Cup, the national football team fell from 79th to 88th in the world ranking, and from 11th to 13th in Asia. Although the poor performance of the national football team cannot be blamed entirely on the head coach, Jankovic's four goalkeepers, the abandonment of naturalized strikers and the tactical choice of several games have raised strong questions from the outside world. Jankovic's dismissal has not yet been officially announced, and the Football Association has already begun to look for a new candidate.
The first "scandal" with the national football team was the coaching of several foreign coaches of the Chinese Super League team, including Cui Kangxi of Shandong Taishan, Qiao Di of Zhejiang and Xu Zhengyuan of Chengdu Rongcheng. However, this option was quickly ruled out, and in the context of the upcoming start of the Chinese Super League, the practice of "digging into the wall" will not only harm the interests of the team, but also attract unnecessary criticism.
A more practical approach is to choose a coach who is familiar with Asian or Chinese football, with favourites such as Ivankovic, who has just stepped down from Oman, and Portugal's Queiroz, who parted ways with Qatar before the Asian Cup.
Ivankovic coached Shandong Taishan and led the team to the 2010 league championship. In addition, he has also served as the head coach of the Iranian national team and the Oman national team, and is very familiar with Asian football. Since taking over the Oman team in 2020, the Croatian has led the team to the Asian round of 12 of the Qatar World Preliminary Championships. During the World Preliminary Championships, he also led the team to defeat the Japanese team.
Queiroz's coaching resume has been even more impressive, including Real Madrid, Manchester United, and the likes of Portugal, Iran, Egypt and Qatar. Considering that the next most important game of the national football team is the round of 36 of the World Preliminary Tournament in March.
In the third and fourth rounds of matches, the time is tight and the task is heavy, and choosing a coach who is familiar with Asian football is conducive to reducing the difficulty of running in with the team.
Ivankovic. Source: Xinhua News Agency.
In addition to the famous coaches who are more familiar with Asian football, the Football Association does not seem to have given up on finding coaches who have achieved good results in Europe. It is understood that Petkovic, who has coached the Swiss national team for 7 years, has also become an important candidate for the new coach of the national football team.
Petkovic didn't have much of a bright spot as a player, but he had good results as a coach. Early in his coaching career, Petkovic played mainly in the Swiss domestic league. From 2005 to 2008, he brought Bellinzona, a Swiss second-tier team, to the Swiss Super League, where he led them to one Swiss Cup final. In addition, he has coached some of the biggest clubs in Europe, such as Lazio and Bordeaux.
More importantly, Petkovic coached the Swiss national team for seven years from 2014 to 2021, during which time he led the team to Euro 2016, World Cup 2018 and Euro 2020, all of which qualified from the group. In the 1 8 finals of Euro 2020, Petkovic's Swiss team eliminated the French team through a penalty shootout, and then drew with Spain in the 1 4 finals, and finally lost to the opponent in the penalty shootout. In 2021, Petkovic said goodbye to the Swiss national team in order to coach Bordeaux in France. Due to his poor record, Petkovic was sacked in February 2022 and has been in a "window period" since then.
Petkovic (center). Courtesy of Visual China.
Petkovic has a good coaching resume and also meets the criteria for a manager selection by the Football Association, but his biggest problem is the lack of coaching experience in Asia.
The 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup will be expanded, and the 8th in Asia will be expandedThe 5-place national football team also wants a piece of the pie, and the first mountain to climb in front of them is the World Cup Qualifiers Asian Round of 36. According to the draw, the national football team is in the same group as South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore. Under the leadership of Jankovic, the national football team defeated Thailand 2-1 away in the first two rounds and lost 0-3 at home to South Korea, temporarily ranking third in the group. The strength of the South Korean team is unbeatable, and on the premise that only the top two can qualify for the round of 18, the national football team must strive for second place in the group.
Next month, the national football team will play Singapore home and away, and the wins and losses of these two games are very crucial to whether the national football team can qualify. Regardless of who the Chinese Football Association ultimately chooses to take over the national football team, the time left for the new coach and his team to familiarize themselves with the work, inspect the players, and implement the training plan will be very limited.
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