FIFA World Cup qualification 40 strong matches are postponed to a foregone conclusion
FIFA World Cup qualification it is difficult to set the schedule. There are many problems in front of the national football team
with FIFA’s borrowing from Doha on March 6, on March 8th, Dubai’s two meetings took the opportunity to obtain the consent of relevant member associations in the West Asia region on the “overall delay of the FIFA World Cup qualification Asian competition”. The extension of the last four rounds of the top 40 competition is a foregone conclusion. However, the difficulties that this brings to the preparation work of member associations and participating teams will also follow. Considering that the adjustment of various domestic and international competitions may disrupt the team’s preparation plan for this year, the Chinese team extended the Dubai training scheduled to end on March 20 to 25, to help the international team better adapt to the skills and tactics of head coach Li Tie.
The training cycle of Dubai was extended to 21 days
on March 6 and March 8, the Asian Football Association held meetings in Doha, Qatar and Dubai, UAE, respectively, communicate on the schedule adjustment of the next Asian Champions League and FIFA World Cup qualification. Since FIFA generally does not interfere with the schedule details of FIFA on FIFA World Cup qualification, it is only a matter of time or procedure to form a final resolution.
The Asian Football League said at the meeting on the 2nd that no matter how the schedule of the remaining four rounds of the top 40 matches is adjusted, no FIFA World Cup qualification Asian matches will be arranged in March. The Chinese Football Association quickly communicated with the national football coaching team who was leading the team to prepare for the battle in Dubai. Wu Lei Zheng, who worked for the Spanish club in La Liga, received the “exemption notice” from Dubai’s training under this background.
Almost at the same time when the Asian Football Association communicated with the associations in the West Asia region, the Chinese team made a decision to extend the Dubai training cycle from 16 days to 21 days. An important reason for this decision is that there are other uncertainties in the adjustment of the FIFA World Cup qualification schedule.
More time is needed to strengthen technical and tactical training
at the beginning of January this year, the Chinese Football Association once finalized various official competitions in the country, Chinese club teams and men, according to the International Football League calendar, the comprehensive calendar for women’s national football team to participate in various international competitions. As in previous years, this year’s men’s international competition day cycle (International competition day window opening period) has 5 sections, which are arranged in March, June, September, October and November respectively. Generally speaking, two international competition days are set for each cycle. However, since the Qatar World Cup will be unveiled in November 2022, nearly half a year later than the opening month of previous Cup matches, there will be more time left for each continent to conduct qualifier matches. The reason why FIFA can calmly postpone the qualifier period in Asia, it also benefits from the schedule of the Qatar World Cup. Therefore, FIFA has preset only one match day for the international match day cycle from October 8 this year to 13.
If the last four rounds of the top 40 are extended to October and November, only three match days will obviously not meet the needs of four FIFA World Cup qualification matches, therefore, FIFA needs to integrate the overall situation of the Asian region to determine whether to add an international competition day in October. In other words, if FIFA conducts the group draw ceremony for the top 12 FIFA World Cup qualification Asian Games on December this year and confirms that the top 12 games will start on next March, then in the last four rounds of the top 40 games, at least one round of events may be scheduled before October, that is, June or September International competition day (if FIFA does not agree to add an international competition day in October).
If the national football team has to play the top 40 matches with Maldives in June, then in fact, this Dubai training episode will become the only training session before the whole team’s June episode. Li Tie naturally needs time to perfect the running-in of the whole team, and at the same time let the players be familiar with the skills and tactics they advocate.
If Fifa agrees to add an international competition day in October, the national football team does not have to conduct FIFA World Cup qualification matches in June, then the national football team can organize training and contact warm-up matches during the established international competition day cycle in that month. Therefore, from the perspective of running into FIFA World Cup qualification battle groups, the national football team also needs more time to strengthen the training of technical and tactical content in advance.
Chain problems caused by schedule adjustment
for the national football team, various chain problems caused by schedule adjustment are indeed a headache. For example, according to the consensus formed by the Asian Football Association meeting on March 2, the third round of the Asian Champions League group match and the subsequent round of group matches faced an overall delay. Considering that the schedule of each event is interlaced and intensive, the Asian Football Association in principle requires that all the Asian Champions League group matches must be finished before August, that is, before the start of the elimination match (1/8 final). However, since the Tokyo Olympic Games is planned to be held from late July to early August, even if this motion can be put into practice, the compactness of the Asian Championship is unprecedented. In May, june is the critical period for the Asian Champions League group competition to decide the number of places to qualify. Due to the epidemic, the Chinese Super League is likely to be in the first stage. Then if the national football team confirms that there is no match to play in June, the Chinese Football Association may also consider “exchanging” the preparation period of the national team with some rounds of the league “. The original schedule of the
40 strong competition showed that the Chinese team played against the Philippines and Syria at home in the last two rounds respectively. However, the last round of home games of the Syrian team against Guam and the Philippine team in the second round means that the last two rounds of the Chinese team, the Philippine team and the Syrian team have games, and the two rounds are only five days apart, and the same round will be held on the same day. Then if the Chinese Football Association wants to launch a schedule that is beneficial to its own competitive interests, it also needs to seek the consent of the same group of competitors, so it is difficult to get what it wants easily. For the Chinese team, the most feasible way is to seize the existing available conditions and strive for more preparation time. Then, according to the final schedule information released by the Asian Football Association on March 16, we will adapt to the situation at random.
Text/Our reporter Xiao Yi co-ordinated/Du Rui