in the "top 18" match against saudi arabia in dalian, can the chinese national football team learn from their mistakes and become stronger?
2024-09-10
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
the second round of the 2026 world cup qualifiers in asia has begun. in group c, the chinese team will face saudi arabia, currently ranked 4th in asia, at 8 o'clock tonight at the soyu bay stadium in dalian. in the first round, the chinese national football team lost 0-7 to the japanese team, while the saudi team was tied 1-1 by the indonesian team at home. currently, both the chinese and saudi teams are under great pressure. for the two coaches ivankovic and mancini, the game tomorrow night may determine whether they will be fired or not.
more than 100 reporters from various media attended the national football team's pre-match press conference.
more than 300 chinese and foreign journalists signed up for coverage of the china-saudi arabia match in the top 18, and nearly two-thirds of them actually showed up. this is also the match with the largest number of media participating in the national football team coverage in the past five years, which shows the degree of attention paid to this match by the outside world.
chinese national football coach ivan and captain wang dalei attended the pre-match press conference today. ivan said that after a few days of adjustment, the team has gradually come out of the psychological haze of the 0-7 defeat, and they will go all out to play a wonderful game in the first home game of the top 18 match to repay the chinese fans.
wang dalei, who is from dalian, felt a little "ashamed" to return to his hometown, especially since he is the captain of the national football team and the main player and goalkeeper in the last round of the game. "however, after returning to dalian, we still see many fans coming to our hotel every day to cheer us up. so many media friends also came today. we are really grateful to everyone. in this game, we hope to change our attitude first, and really play with our spirit and spirit, so that fans across the country will not be disappointed!"
facing the saudi team, which is also in poor form, ivan will definitely take more active measures in tactical preparation for this game. "there are always many changes between offense and defense on the football field. it is impossible to just attack or just defend, but defense is the most basic." ivan said, "we knew we were in the 'death group' from the first day of the draw, and the results of the first round also confirmed this. our opponents in the first three rounds are all regular participants in the world cup, and bahrain and indonesia have also shown their strength. for us, we can only fight in every game."
li lei will replace the injured liu yang as left back in this game.
in terms of tactical preparation, ivan has been practicing the 442 and 433 formations in dalian these days. the only thing that is certain now is that left-back liu yang has been injured and has left the national team. his position is likely to be replaced by li lei. in the midfield, wang shangyuan will be the core player in defense. if the 442 is played, he will play as a double defensive midfielder, and if the 433 is played, he will play as a double attacking midfielder.
on the offensive end, wu lei is still the main force, and alan, fernando, baihelamu and lin liangming may all partner with him, depending on whether he plays with two forwards or three forwards. ivan said: "we can't change the previous tactical plan overnight. i can only try to let the players play the positions they are familiar with in the club, but the players also need to adapt to the tactical arrangements of different coaches." the implication is that ivan will still focus on defensive counterattacks in this game and will not rush to take the initiative to attack.
ivan has coached in arab leagues and national teams in his previous career. he said that the saudi league has made huge investments in recent years to improve its quality. they even beat argentina in the last world cup, so he knows that the opponents' players are very capable and experienced. "especially the head coach of the saudi team, he is the coach of the european cup champion, his experience will definitely help the saudi team."
thai referee saduro gulmurodhi officiates the match between china and saudi arabia
the match between china and saudi arabia was handled by a thai referee team, with saduro gurmurodhi as the chief referee. this was his first time to referee a chinese national football match. he had previously refereed the match where south korea beat singapore 7-0 in the round of 36.
in addition, cctv will not broadcast the china-saudi arabia match live for copyright reasons, and domestic fans can only watch it through a paid online platform. the barracuda bay stadium can accommodate more than 60,000 people. although there was news that the attendance rate was affected by the high ticket price, according to the current on-site feedback, more than 50,000 fans will enter the stadium to watch the game, including a large number of fans from the "dragon team" fan club from all over the country who have gathered in dalian.
text/guangzhou daily new flower city reporter: zhang zhe
guangzhou daily new flower city editor: yang min
image source: chinese football association
