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reporter chen yong reports "we have to rebuild from the failure as soon as possible, stick to the original idea, use good performances to improve the ranking as much as possible, ensure that we enter the top four in the group, and qualify for the play-offs. these are all processes for us to achieve our ultimate goal." after losing 0-7 to japan, chinese national football coach ivankovic talked about the future goals of the chinese national football team in the top 18.

however, at this moment, no one has any hope of getting the top four in the group, which actually reflects another super problem: rebuilding confidence after the collapse. without confidence, let alone the top four in the group, it may be a problem to maintain the bottom line of not losing again. for example, can we win against indonesia? or can we ensure that there will be no new defeat?

both song kai, chairman of the chinese football association, and xu jiren, the new vice chairman in charge of the national team, are very clear about the need to make every effort in the short term to carry out the "post-disaster reconstruction" of the chinese national team. in the past few days since the team returned to dalian, they have held three communication meetings to listen to the reports and suggestions of the national football management cadres and chinese coaches, and combined with the team's preparation plan, they quickly formulated the work direction and content for the next few days, and put forward very specific requirements for the team and coaching staff, striving to go all out in the match against saudi arabia on the 10th.

in addition, for the football association, some preventive and forward-looking measures may be necessary to implement. whether the coach will be replaced or not still needs to be observed, but a comprehensive review of the coach selection mechanism and making appropriate plans are necessary. in addition, the football association and the chinese football federation's preparatory group also need to sort out the relationship between the national football team, the chinese super league and the asian champions league series.

for the decision-makers, it is even more important to stick to the established direction: the chinese football development strategy with youth football development as the core, which has been determined since 2022, cannot be shaken. there is no need to come up with "wild ideas" to try to "save the national football team", as everything is a gradual process. what is more important at present is to take practical measures, including financial guarantees, to fully develop youth football, comprehensively improve the quality of youth football events, including strengthening the construction of the youth national team.

facing the barely qualified 18th round, the mentality of the national team players was very complicated. before the game, more than 20 national team players were interviewed. the national team players generally believed that the internal atmosphere of the team was good, but the stable mentality that seemed to be maintained by the good atmosphere quickly collapsed after the japanese team scored the first goal. the reason for this situation is too simple: first, the entire chinese football circle has not yet entered a positive atmosphere. before the anti-corruption and anti-gambling crackdown, everything was about money. after the anti-corruption and anti-gambling crackdown, there are still penalties in the industry waiting to be settled. the entire football circle seems calm, but in fact it is anxious; secondly, the national football team has not been the heart of the players for a long time, but has been avoided. too many mature players who are playing well in the league have chosen to reject the national football team in various ways. the reason is very simple. there is no honor there, only scolding; third, facing the japanese team that has continued to improve since the last 12th round, most national team players lack the determination to fight to the death with them, and losing less is winning has become a general mentality.

faced with such a dilemma, the chinese football association also quickly started work. on the morning of the 7th, chinese football association chairman song kai and head coach ivankovic had a separate communication and reached a consensus: seriously summarize the last game, adjust the team's physical and mental state, and prepare for the next game. after reaching a consensus with ivan, chairman song kai and vice chairman xu jiren convened the team's chinese coaches, the head of the state administration department and the team leader to analyze and summarize the china-japan match, and carried out targeted division of labor for the problems existing in the team, focusing on adjusting the players' psychology and unifying thoughts.

in the afternoon of the 7th, song kai and xu jiren gave mobilization speeches to the whole team. song kai, on behalf of the general administration and the chinese football association, put forward four requirements to the national football team: first, we must get out of the defeat in the last game as soon as possible, quickly adjust our mentality, and focus on the china-saudi arabia match; second, we must promptly solve the problems of insufficient communication, inconsistent tactical thinking, and insufficient determination and courage shown by the players in the first game; third, we must focus on winning and fighting, and make full preparations for the next game against saudi arabia; fourth, we must fully cooperate with the coaching team and resolutely implement the team's tactical requirements. in his speech to the whole team, xu jiren emphasized that there are no weak teams in the top 18, and the team can only be competitive if it goes all out and fights hard. i hope that all the players will understand who they are fighting for and why they are fighting, and work hard for the dream of the world cup. judging from the effect of this mobilization meeting, the national team players, who had previously been demoralized, expressed a strong resonance with the speech of the football association leaders.

afterwards, the core team of the national football team held discussions and exchanges. next, the whole team will follow the established deployment of the leadership, make every effort to repair the team's unfavorable factors, cooperate with the technical and tactical play formulated by the head coach, give core players active and correct guidance and encouragement. they must unify their thoughts, focus on defeating the saudi team, work hard, and strive for good results.

before the training, captain wu lei and vice-captain wang dalei took the initiative to apply for a mobilization speech at the training ground. as a core veteran of the team, wu lei shared his feelings, hoping that young players would establish the belief of winning in the competition to face any opponent, and not consider other factors and simulated results. although the lost points cannot be recovered, the lost dignity must be fought back by oneself; wang dalei called on teammates to get out of the previous defeat as soon as possible, sum up the experience and lessons, live up to the expectations of the fans, clarify the goal of impacting the world cup as a football player, strengthen the communication between players and between players and coaches, solve the problems that arise, and strive to play well in the home game against saudi arabia three days later.

although the effectiveness of a series of actions taken by the chinese football association and the state administration department after losing the first game has yet to be tested in actual combat, there are still many examples that prove that effective strategies are not impossible to change the dilemma: in 2008, the chinese national football team ended the most chaotic world cup qualifiers in history, but in the second and third years, the chinese national football team was able to draw with germany and beat france, including a 3-0 victory over south korea; on june 15, 2013, the chinese national football team lost 1-5 to thailand, and a month later in the east asian cup, the chinese national football team drew 3-3 with japan, 0-0 with south korea, and beat australia 4-3; if the above rebounds are not formal competitions, in the 2018 world cup qualifiers, after starting with 1 draw and 3 losses, lippi took office, and in the following 6 games, he won 3, drew 2, and lost 1. today's national football team is no longer as strong as it was in the past, but the improvement in the spiritual level still has a certain meaning. in the top 18, it is the responsibility and mission of the national players to hold the bottom line.

objectively speaking, there is not much the football association can change in terms of the current strength level of the chinese national football team, including the possibility of further decline in the future, but the football association still needs to prepare corresponding plans on multiple levels.

the first point is a realistic plan, that is, it is necessary to make preliminary preparations for the coaching change. to be more precise, regardless of whether the coaching change will take place or not, it is necessary to re-examine and review the coaching selection mechanism. at present, after experiencing local coaches and foreign coaches who are familiar with chinese or asian football, the new direction is likely to be coaches who have coached in europe for a long time. of course, whether it will fall into a new cycle in the future is unknown, but it is best to have a stable coaching selection direction. one of the key points in coaching selection is that the new foreign coach has very keen observation and a very clear mind, strong tactical adaptability, and relatively more successful experience in low-level teams. at least the current chinese national team does not have the ability to adapt to the mainstream play of the world.

what is more important is the coach selection mechanism. the new coach selection mechanism should be completely separated from the current one. people familiar with european and american football should become the main participants. on this basis, we should comprehensively consider multiple factors such as coaching experience and style, personal character, price and possibility of joining the team, and establish a database of national football coaches to track them in a timely manner. of course, it would be better if there were reliable foreign football professionals or teams to provide professional support.

the second is the long-term plan, namely the schedule and coordination of the league, national team and afc champions league. the overall morale of the national football team is not high this time, which is related to the fact that they still played 12 to 13 rounds of intensive schedules in hot weather. moreover, it is difficult to adjust back to normal after a two-week break after the intensive schedule. a spent force cannot penetrate a silk cloth, not to mention that the national football team is a weak force and the japanese team is not a silk cloth.

it is suggested that the chinese football association and the chinese football federation coordinate the schedules of the league, national team and afc champions league, and consider all aspects. it is necessary to add a summer break to the chinese super league. this summer break is to ensure the three international match days in september, october and november, as well as the intensive schedule of the league, fa cup and afc champions league series during this period. of course, this season is not feasible. in october and november, the national football team will probably be in a state of deep fatigue.

the reporter also learned that the chinese football association has begun designing the schedule for the next season of the chinese super league, and has two or more corresponding plans, but the determination of the subsequent schedule requires further coordination with the clubs and the chinese football association.

specific suggestions: the league will start one week earlier, in late february, and directly connect with the last round of the asian champions league, the 8th round of the group stage, in mid-february; the league will end in late november, and directly connect with the 6th round of the asian champions league in early december; in addition to the winter break, a one-month summer break will be set from mid-july to mid-august. with the physical and mental adjustment of this summer break, the players can better cope with the games from september to november. as for the number of games in each competition period, it can be decided after full discussion.

several key points: first, the national football team's training and league should not be separated, and a normal interval of one week is sufficient, so that the state can be maintained; second, with regard to the schedule adjustment, the teams in the northeast region are more affected, but the china league one and china league two can start later and end earlier, and the chinese super league teams can set up a second home stadium and play games indoors. of course, the construction of the venue requires coordination and support from relevant parties, and the games can also be held in advance at noon depending on the situation; third, in terms of future development, the chinese super league can transition to the new year's eve system with a slight adjustment, but if the china league one and china league two want to implement the new year's eve system, the winter break of the china league one and china league two will be too long.

starting from 2022, the overall development strategy of chinese football has undergone a fundamental change. from this year on, the gamble on the national team was considered unhelpful to the development of chinese football and was abandoned. the overall strategy focuses on the development of youth football, and on this basis, the league will be restored to health and the national football team will gradually become regular. in the journey of the 2026 world cup asian qualifiers, whether it is the previous 36 games or the current 18 games, the national football team has been low-key. the football association attaches importance to it but does not set specific indicators, which is also a reflection of this strategy.

before the chinese national football team suffered a disastrous 0-7 defeat to the japanese team, the performance of youth national teams at all levels was actually quite good: in september 2019, the 2004 national youth team returned to the afc u-15 championship finals after 6 years (two sessions); in june 2023, the 2006 national youth team once again reached the afc u-15 championship finals; in september, the 2003 national youth team returned to the afc u-15 championship finals after 4 years (one session); in early 2024, the 2003 national youth team reached the quarterfinals of the afc u-15 championship after 9 years; in september 2023, the 2008 national youth team won the u15 east asian cup.

while the chinese national football team was on the campaign, in june, the 2005 age group national youth team defeated the vietnamese national youth team 1-0, tied the uzbek national youth team 0-0, and defeated the korean national youth team 2-0, winning the weinan four nations championship. after that, they won 1 and tied 1 against the iranian national youth team, and lost 3-4 to the iraqi national team. recently, the 2003 age group u21 national team won two consecutive games, both of which were won near the end of extra time, including a 2-1 victory over vietnam.

these youth national teams still need to improve in terms of competition content and quality, and their victories or qualification are often thrilling, but overall, the construction of the youth national teams is on a stable track. in addition, the chinese football association has established the 2009 and 2010 age group national youth selection teams, and also organized a 2007 age group national youth training camp.

all of this is a significant improvement compared to the past. you know, the national youth team missed the asian u-23 championship finals for two consecutive times (2000 and 2002), and the 2001 national youth team also missed the asian u-23 championship finals. that was the darkest moment for chinese football, but it was not as eye-catching as the national football team's disastrous defeat. it should be noted that the 2001 age group also qualified in the u23 asian cup qualifiers, although the process was also extremely thrilling.

therefore, for decision makers, the most important thing is to firmly develop the strategy of youth football. in addition to the construction of the youth national team mentioned above, efforts should be made at multiple levels:

(1) at the campus football level, we should comprehensively develop campus football leagues based on prefecture-level cities, popularize the home and away game system during the week as much as possible, and campus football matches with spectators will have real significance.

(ii) at the level of the youth championship, we will comprehensively develop a weekend-week youth training league in some prefecture-level cities that meet the requirements, and strive to expand the local qualifiers for the youth championship. at the national competition level, we will continue to create a high-quality national finals and optimize the competition system.

(iii) in terms of the extension of youth training events, we will continue to build professional club echelon leagues and support high-quality youth events. in terms of international exchanges, in addition to local international invitational tournaments, we will introduce chinese and foreign competitions led by the football association as soon as possible, similar to the previous "champions league".

of course, in order to support the competition system, there is still more work to be done: first, the upward channel for campus football should be further expanded; second, strong support should be given to the funding of youth football competitions; third, in addition to the national competition office, local governments should improve the three major competition offices for campus football, youth training leagues and amateur leagues, so that the sports system and the education system can form a synergy.

on the basis of developing young people, there are two major systematic tasks, namely professional leagues and amateur leagues, which involve the export of youth football. only the development of professional leagues and the growth of amateur leagues can stimulate the demand for football talents and provide greater support for the development of youth football. there is also a lot of work to be done at these two levels: first, there must be necessary financial support, such as coordinating sponsorship, or issuing football lottery tickets to feed back; second, expand the enthusiasm of social capital investment, give due tax exemption or other policies to social funds invested in football or sports, and gradually extend the current government-led football development to comprehensive construction and participation, which can solve the fundamental problem.

in other words, although the national team's crushing defeat is extremely painful, we should avoid treating the symptoms without addressing the root cause. instead, we should stick to the established development direction and firmly build the youth and league foundations of the national football team. only in this way can we avoid the pain of today in the future.