Reporter Ma Dexing wrote that the group draw for the 18th round of the World Cup qualifiers was announced on June 27. Ivan Kovacevic, the head coach of the Chinese team who attended the draw ceremony, returned to Croatia on the evening of the draw and is expected to return to China in mid-July to prepare for the first two rounds of the 18th round in September. The team leader Tong Jie also returned to China on the night of the draw and began preparations for the 18th round. Judging from the current situation, China’s preparations are mainly in two aspects: first, to finalize the host city as soon as possible; second, to adjust the league schedule accordingly.
① Preparations started before the draw
In fact, long before the group draw for the 18th round, the Chinese Football Association had already prepared relevant meeting rooms in the background. On one side, they watched the entire draw process, while on the other side, they waited for the draw to be announced and immediately held a video conference with relevant leaders and staff of the Football Association in the background and the head coach Ivan and team leader Tong Jie who participated in the draw in the front to determine and implement the next steps. To be more precise, after the Chinese team qualified from the 36th round, the National Team Management Department has actually started related preparations. For example, before the group draw for the 18th round, the Chinese team had already confirmed that it was in the fifth tier, and FIFA and AFC had also drafted the specific schedule for the 18th round. That is, as the fifth tier, the order of home and away games for the Chinese team was quite clear. Therefore, among the three teams in the first tier, the flight information to South Korea, Japan and Iran for the Chinese team, whether there are direct flights from China, and when they can return to China after the game, etc.? Because the Chinese team will play away in the first round of the 18th round and return to China for a home game in the second round. Before the opponents were confirmed, all flights, routes, etc. from China to each tier of opponents were fully sorted out. On the one hand, this is to have a clear direction for the national team to choose where to prepare after the draw is announced, because at that time the national team can directly fly from the training ground to the away game. At the same time, it can also give a direction for the choice of the home game, because cities with direct return flights will definitely be given priority. Because a realistic situation is: with the current financial situation of the Chinese Football Association, it is basically impossible to charter flights for away games like the last two times, so the national team can only choose to travel by commercial airlines. Moreover, after the epidemic, commercial airlines have fully resumed their flights, and they are relatively convenient. Similar preparation work was handed over to Ivan by Tong Jie before arriving in Kuala Lumpur to participate in the draw and seeing head coach Ivan Kovacevic, and then Ivan put forward specific suggestions. After the draw was announced, the video conference between the front and back ends can greatly shorten the time. It should be said that although they experienced the special situation of closed-door play in the last Qatar World Cup qualifier, the staff of the National Team Management Department have accumulated a lot of experience in this area, so relatively speaking, the situation and work that needs to be prepared in advance can be said to be well-versed. It is understood that according to the meeting situation, the next task of the National Team Management Department is to implement the pre-match training location and the inspection work for the first away game in September. Moreover, immediately after the draw was announced, team leader Tong Jie had already inquired with the Japanese representative, and the Japanese side clearly told the Chinese team: The first game will be held at the Saitama 2002 World Cup Stadium, the home ground of Urawa Red Diamonds. In this way, the Football Association has relatively more choices when setting up the first home game of the Chinese team on September 11.
② The home stadium must have VAR equipment
Long before the group draw, the AFC held a short meeting with the representatives of the participating teams of the 18th round on the morning of the day, and officials from FIFA’s Competition Department and AFC officials responsible for the specific hosting gave a brief introduction to the situation of the 18th round. The biggest change from the previous 36th round is that every game during the 18th round must be held in a stadium with VAR equipment! In other words, the biggest difference in refereeing during the 18th round is the full intervention of VAR technology. According to AFC officials, the reason why VAR technology was not used in the previous 36th round was because only more than half of the 47 affiliated member associations in Asia have adopted VAR technology in their domestic leagues. Some member associations are actively responding, but the biggest problem they face is funding, as a set of VAR equipment recognized by FIFA is not cheap. In fact, among the teams participating in the 18th round this time, Indonesia just started using it. The Southeast Asian U16 Youth Championship currently underway in Indonesia entered the semi-finals, and the Indonesian Football Association and the Southeast Asian Football Association jointly introduced VAR equipment for the first time, but this was also the first time Indonesia used it comprehensively, which was equivalent to a trial for the subsequent 18th round. Similarly, the Kyrgyz Football Association will use VAR equipment for the first time in the Central Asian U20 Youth Championship to be held in Kyrgyzstan in July. This is also a trial by the Kyrgyz Football Association for the subsequent 18th round. As for Iran, in the previous AFC Champions League, AFC also required the use of VAR technology. However, due to international sanctions, equipment could not enter Iran. Later, with the help of AFC, the Azadi Stadium in Tehran is currently equipped with this VAR equipment. Therefore, the Iranian national team can only choose the Azadi Stadium as its home ground when playing in the 18th round. China’s Chinese Super League has already adopted VAR technology, and basically all main stadiums hosting the Chinese Super League are equipped with such equipment. However, cities that do not host the Chinese Super League but hope to host the home game of the 18th round may need to solve the problem of installing a VAR equipment that meets FIFA requirements first. It is understood that there are many cities in China that hope to host the five home games of the 18th round. However, considering the difference in weather between north and south, it is more likely to choose to arrange the two home games in September and October in the north, after all, the weather in the north is obviously more suitable than that of southern cities at that time, which is more conducive to the players’ performance. Moreover, the Chinese team’s first game is against Japan on September 5th, and the stadium is the Saitama 2002 World Cup Stadium, so it is relatively convenient to return to northern cities in China from Tokyo. It is said that Dalian and Shenyang are currently more ideal choices. Of course, the final determination of the home ground will be a comprehensive choice after comprehensive evaluation. The Football Association will announce this in due course. According to the relevant requirements of FIFA, the home ground application of each participating team needs to be submitted to the AFC at least 30 days before the game.
③ The schedule is being slightly adjusted
For the Chinese team, because the domestic league still implements the annual system, the team can only start training before the national team’s game week, and it is also difficult to arrange warm-up matches. According to the Chinese Super League schedule drafted at the beginning of the year, the league will be suspended after the 24th round on August 24th and 25th, and the national team can start preparations again. That is to say, according to the current schedule, the Chinese team only has 10 days to fully prepare for the first game against Japan. For the Chinese team, this is somewhat short. However, according to the existing calendar, the Chinese Super League will have a two-week break after the 19th round on July 12th and 13th, and the 20th round will be held again on July 26th to 28th. The reason for this gap is that the East Asian Football Federation previously decided to hold the biennial East Asian Cup during this period. However, in April this year, the East Asian Football Federation decided to postpone the event to 2025 before the meeting, and the specific time will be further determined. Therefore, how to arrange these two weeks is a big deal. Previously, the Football Association had solicited Ivan Kovacevic’s opinion on whether the national team could organize training during this period? But Ivan believes that organizing training without arranging warm-up matches during this period is not very meaningful. And to arrange warm-up matches, because all teams are on vacation, it is difficult to find ideal and suitable opponents, so Ivan suggested: Could the 24th round on August 24th and 25th be arranged during this period? In this way, the national team can have an extra week to start training early after finishing the 23rd round of the league on August 16th and 17th. At that time, we will see if it is possible to arrange a warm-up match. Because when he led Oman to play away against Japan in the last World Cup qualifier, he had more than a month to prepare before and after the game. Compared with that, he still has some experience. On the surface, it seems simple to adjust the league schedule, but it actually involves many aspects. Because the main stadiums used by Chinese Super League teams are not affiliated with the clubs, after the league schedule is submitted, the relevant managers of each stadium will arrange various large-scale events in the gaps. If there are any adjustments, it will be easier for those without arrangements, but it will be difficult to coordinate those who have already arranged other large-scale events during the gap. This is one point. Secondly, from the perspective of the league schedule, if you want to adjust it, it is more reasonable to “move the whole thing”, which means moving the whole league from July 26th to the 24th forward. However, if you move it like this, some other large-scale events may be affected because other large-scale events may have been arranged between the two home grounds, and the scope involved is also very wide. As for moving the round on August 24th and 25th to the July gap alone, even if the local government departments of the team’s location agree, it will bring a series of chain reactions to the team itself. For example, some teams may be involved in continuous away games, and this also involves the issue of red and yellow cards. These teams may complain about unfairness, and perhaps some local media will make a fuss about it, causing unnecessary public opinion. Therefore, adjusting the league schedule, which seems simple, actually involves quite complicated situations. However, judging from the current situation, it is still necessary to make minor adjustments to the league schedule, and all parties should cherish the current opportunity for Chinese football to compete in the 18th round. Judging from the current situation, there is a round of FA Cup knockout matches arranged on July 15th to 17th, and another round of league matches can be interspersed on July 21st or 22nd, which is actually feasible. In this way, the national team can have an extra week to prepare for the 18th round. But this work is still being actively coordinated, and the Football Association may issue an official announcement when there is further confirmation. Judging from the current situation, the group draw for the 18th round has been announced, but the Chinese team’s preparations in all aspects have just entered the stage of substantive operations.
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