The Chinese national football coach was "very satisfied" after inspecting the Qingdao home court. The list of Japanese referees for the first World Cup qualifier was finalized.
2024-08-16
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Peninsula Omnimedia reporter Pan Lichao
On August 14, the head coach of the Chinese national football team Ivankovic arrived in Qingdao to inspect the home stadium and conducted a field inspection of all aspects of conditions, including training and competition venues, resident hotels, and transportation conditions. Ivan was very satisfied with the local conditions for hosting the games, and he even stayed in the resident hotel for one night. The Chinese national football team will first play away against Japan in the first round of the World Cup qualifiers, and will face Indonesia in the fourth round at home on October 15 at Qingdao Youth Football Stadium.
According to the plan, the Chinese men's football team will regroup in Dalian on August 23 to prepare for the first two rounds of the top 18 matches in September. According to the plan, the Chinese team will depart from Dalian early on September 2 to Tokyo, Japan, to participate in the first away game against the Japanese team on September 5. It is reported that the Chinese football team will stay in a hotel in downtown Tokyo during their stay in Japan. On September 10, they will return to their home ground in Dalian to face Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the referee team for the first two rounds of the World Cup qualifiers has also been determined. The referee for the first round against Japan is Jassim from Qatar. This referee has left a deep impression on Chinese fans. No matter whether he is officiating the national team's Asian competitions or the Chinese Super League teams' games in the AFC Champions League, in the games officiated by Jassim, it is difficult for Chinese teams to gain an advantage and they often suffer losses.
In the round of 36 match between China and South Korea at home last November, Jasim awarded South Korea a false penalty shortly after the start of the game. Jasim's refereeing in this game caused strong dissatisfaction among Chinese fans, and South Korea easily won 3:0. In recent years, there was another match that was refereed by the Chinese national football team. In the 2022 World Cup Asian qualifiers, the match between China and Japan was refereed by Jasim. Jasim also awarded Japan a penalty at the beginning of the game. China lost 0-2 in that game. Although the overall strength of the Chinese team is definitely different from that of the Japanese team, the fact that Jasim was in charge of refereeing this game may have further affected the national team players psychologically.
Before this, when the Chinese Football Association decided to hold the match against Indonesia in Qingdao, it caused dissatisfaction from the Indonesian Football Association. Previously, the Indonesian media had said that the Indonesian national team would inevitably experience a long journey from Bahrain to Qingdao. According to the current flight information, it would take about 30 hours of flight from Bahrain to Qingdao. In an interview with the Indonesian media, Thohir, chairman of the Indonesian Football Association, said: "After the first two rounds, everything will become difficult. We will go to Bahrain for an away game, which will take nearly 17 hours. Then we will fly to China, and we will be arranged in a city 6 and a half hours away from Beijing. It is said that Qingdao is very cold in October, and all national teams want to create difficulties for the visiting team. Therefore, we must do well as the host, but not too well. If we can achieve good results away from home, we should do better when we return to our home court."
However, according to meteorological data, the average annual temperature in Qingdao in October is 15.4℃, which seems very comfortable, but Indonesian players play in a hot and humid climate all year round and are definitely not used to the cool weather in Qingdao. However, the Chinese national football team will also have to endure a long journey before playing against Indonesia, because after the third round away game against Australia, they need to return to Qingdao from Adelaide, which also requires multiple transfers. Difficulties exist objectively and are fair to everyone. I hope that the Chinese national football team can make the most of the home advantage to achieve good results.
