With less than a month left before the next World Preliminary Tournament, the national football team has finally completed the change of coach. On the 24th, the Chinese Football Association announced that Ivankovic became the new coach of the national football team.
For veteran coach Ivankovic, who is about to celebrate his 70th birthday, the next task will be very difficult. Can this "old acquaintance" of Chinese football lead the current national football team?
An old acquaintance of Chinese football
Ivankovic's eventual appointment as coach of the national football team is not an unexpected result. With the current personnel strength, salary level and other factors of the national football team, coupled with the very limited time for the selection of coaches and the run-in of the team after the new coach took office, Ivankovic, who left the Oman team not long ago, has become one of the few options for the national football team.
Ivankovic is familiar enough with Chinese football and Asian football, and has led Shandong Taishan team to win the Chinese Super League, and has also traveled to Dammam and Abu Dhabi.
1. Persepolis and other Asian clubs. At international level, he has also coached Iran and Oman.
In the previous Asian Cup, the Oman team led by Ivankovic drew 2 and lost 1 in the group stage and failed to qualify. However, during his four years in charge of Oman, the team's world ranking has steadily improved.
In the round of 12 of the last World Preliminary Championship, the Oman team, which is in the same group as the national football team, is only one point away from qualifying for the play-offs, and has also defeated Japan 1-0 away during this period.
In terms of leading the team to the World Preliminary Tournament, Ivankovic is undoubtedly quite experienced.
It needs to be rejuvenated
After Ivankovic takes office, the first challenge he will face is the upcoming key match of the World Preliminary Championship. After the bleak Asian Cup journey, the national football team needs to regain confidence and fighting spirit for the World Preliminary Tournament in a short period of time.
At present, the situation of the group in which the national football team is located can be described as an undercurrent. Opponents Singapore appointed new coach Tsutomu Ogura in early February, while South Korea announced Klinsmann's resignation after the Asian Cup.
Another opponent in the same group, Thailand, completed a change of coach in December last year, and after Ishii took over, he led the team to a rapid Asian Cup**, drawing with Ivankovic's Oman team at the time in the group stage.
Data map: Before the first leg of the World Preliminary Tournament between the national football team and the Thai team, the national football team was more cautious in selecting coaches, and the national football team, which changed coaches relatively late, also fell into a relatively passive situation. After all, with the strength advantage of the South Korean team, even if it is caught in the turmoil of infighting and the change of coach, there is still a strong room for correction in the round of 36.
After the change of coach of the Singapore team, it may also usher in the best trend. For the national football team that will play against it in March, there will be some uncertainties.
There is no doubt that in the face of the relatively limited Singapore team in the group, two consecutive wins are the goal that the national football team must achieve. However, given the team's current strength and form, it is clear that it is not certain to secure six points.
Needless to say, the Thai team that has improved significantly. Next, the home and away games against the turbulent South Korean team will be a good thing for the Thai team.
And once the national football team makes a mistake in the home game against Thailand in June, advancing to the round of 18 will become an impossible task. At that time, Chinese football will further step into the abyss.
Data map: The national football team in the Asian Cup. How to solve the bigger problem
In addition to the dangerous external situation, as far as the national football team itself is concerned, the problem of upgrading also needs to be solved. This burden started before the 2019 Asian Cup and has been thrown off to this day.
When Jankovic took office at the beginning of last year, he originally thought that he would help the national football team eliminate this burden. But nearly a year has passed, from the warm-up matches to the World Preliminaries to the Asian Cup, the problem of replacement has never been solved.
Under the consideration of results, the national football team, with a group of veterans as the main team, is the second highest average age team in the Asian Cup, but in the end it was exchanged for the worst record in history.
Data map: The national football team Asian Cup group is now facing the world preliminaries, and the pressure on the national football team performance is greater than that of the Asian Cup, and how to update it has become a problem in front of us.
In addition, the use of naturalized players may become a variable in the future stage of the national football team.
In addition to Jiang Guangtai, who has always been steady, Alan who has returned to the Chinese Super League, Fernando, who has improved his form, Li Ke, who missed the Asian Cup, and Ackerson, who was abandoned by Jankovic, if Ivankovic can activate these four players, it may make a difference in a short period of time.
**: China News Network
Process edit: u032