Less controvesy, more ennui

My initial thoughs on the new national team squad

Here it is. The first China squad under Branko Ivanković, having had the worst showing at the Asian Cup since the PRC played its first edition in 1976 as its performance sank under the weight of Aleksandar Janković's withering and dithering. The new squad contains both continuity and change, and one dare say is moving to the direction proposed by yours truly. Without further ado, here is my immediate take.

Goalkeepers

Let’s begin with the quantity. One of the red flags of Jankovic's flailing tenure was his decision to bring four goalkeepers. This was continued was disappointing. It would be more understandable if the choices were Yan Junling plus Zhao Bo, who had the great fortune of having one of his defenders sent off in the few games Ivankovic could watch, Jian Tao, and perhaps Ma Zhen, ie, the goalie who will actually play plus three young(er) keepers who need experience. You can argue for Wang Dalei for dressing room chemistry but there is absolutely no point in Liu Dianzuo, who is not even the best among older keepers.

In the future, an interesting point is who wins out at Shanghai Shenhua, where Ma Zhen, 25, had a headstart last year but Bao Yaxiong, 27, caught up and seemingly has overtaken the No. 1 spot. Until a firm resolution is arrived at, it will remain awkward for the national team head coach to pick either, let alone both, which is impossible.

Defenders

It’s been a while since so few teams are so dominant a single position, but here we are. That said, Zhang Linpeng is unlikely to be fully healthy to participate in the two legs against Singapore. Browning also has a fitness problem, having just recovered from injury. This leaves a possible replication of the CB pair of Shenhua at the national team, bringing what was only a prospect forward by 5 years.

Li Lei's refinding of form is also good news for the senior squad, especially now Hu Hetao's entire career has been interrupted by unnecessary callups to the U levels. Li's career is another example (another prominent example being that of Guo Tianyu) that an overseas adventure can be bad for both the player and the national team. Once returning to Guoan, Li is much freer from injury if still somewhat inconsistent.

Midfielders/Strikers

Ba Dun and Li Ke return, which is sensible. The former's form was frustrated by injury in the second half of the season but it was never convincing to pick Lin Liangming, who had injury troubles and underperformed as a result, over him. The latter is the symbol for the problem of the Jankovic era: he was straight kicked out of the preliminary squad for the Asian Cup for being a few minutes late to the training, but rules continued to be broken, then with impunity, as the Serbian did not summon any replacement.

There is still this categorisation problem. All wingers, Fei Nanduo was listed as a winger while Ba Dun, Xie Pengfei, and others are put into 'Midfield'. Cheng Jin enjoyed a surprise callup as he, like Zhao Bo, made the most out of a 10-men game.

The real shocker was Dai Wai Tsun and Gao Tianyi, who both entered the senior national team as Jankovic's confidant at the junior level but haven't seen much light of the day at Shenhua this season. This creates a strong contrast with club teammates Wu Xi and Xu Haoyang, who are leading the team that looks like a firm title contender.

It later emerged that Wu Xi has informally retired from the national team by telling the management that he felt 'too tired' juggling between club and country. Be as it may, the two inclusions still create a team that has titled too much towards the offence. Gao Tianyi might have dropped deeper in terms the position he plays. But he's still better at passing the ball rather than intercepting it. In any case, that job can already been done by Wang Shangyuan and Li Yuanyi, who are almost certain to start. Yan Dinghao - just to give a single example - would be a better choice. Yang Mingyang deserves a closer look.

And talking about Li Yuanyi, his selection is long overdue - probably dragged by staying in a relegation-bound team for too long. But then again, Jordan Pickford has been facing the same problem. That didn't change his status as England's No.1.