Who goes, who stays, who comes? Preparing for the 2030 World Cup, how can the national football team change blood and become younger?

Reporter Chen Yong reports This Tuesday, the national football team will play the last game of the round of 18, which is the farewell match of the national football team to the 2026 World Cup, and it is also likely to be the farewell match of many veteran players over 30 years old to the national football team. From the next training camp, the national football team aims for the 2030 World Cup qualifiers, including the 2027 Asian Cup.

Based on the current situation of players of all ages in Chinese football, especially the overall strength of players born in the late 1990s to early 2000s, there is a high probability that the 2030 World Cup qualifiers will not be able to use mature veteran players step by step, otherwise the strength of the national football team may not even be as good as this one. It is imperative to comprehensively change blood and rejuvenate in an all-round way, but how to effectively promote it, the Chinese Football Association needs to have systematic planning and even tenacious will.

Due to the postponement of the 2023 Asian Cup to 2024, the match of this Asian Cup is actually between the round of 36 of the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers.

However, due to the poor record in the Asian Cup, Jankovic fell into verbal criticism, and the Football Association finally chose to let Jankovic go out of class and appointed Ivankovic. Unexpectedly, Ivankovic drew away to Singapore in the first game, almost making the national football team unrecoverable, but fortunately, the national football team was lucky to advance to the round of 18.

In another case, when Gao Hongbo first became the coach of the national football team, he was originally coaching smoothly, but he was also dismissed because of his poor performance in the 2011 Asian Cup, and then Camacho, who took office, completely ignored the actual situation of Chinese football and led the team to a mess, which can be called one of the most failed national football coaches, similar to Dujkovic.

The 2027 Asian Cup will not be postponed again, so the 2030 World Cup qualifiers will not start until after the 2027 Asian Cup.

There is no doubt that after the 2027 Asian Cup, the 2030 World Cup qualifiers will be opened that year, so the 2027 Asian Cup will inevitably be a young squad for real exercise, but if the younger squad does not have a good record in the Asian Cup, can the Football Association withstand the pressure? You must know that once the performance is not good, the surging public opinion is likely to drown out the Football Association, even if the Chinese Football Association swears to firmly promote youthfulness today, but once the public opinion repercussions are too big, no one dares to guarantee that the Football Association can withstand the pressure, Gao Hongbo and Jankovic are a lesson from the past.

Based on the current situation of all ages in China, a more appropriate way is: first, in terms of veteran players (30 years old + at that time), retain some players in the 95/96 and 97/98 age groups, mainly indispensable players, such as center forward Zhang Yuning, of course, can also include forward Serginho, winger Lin Liangming, etc., so as to play the role of the old with the new, these players can account for 1/4, about 6 to 7 people; Second, Mesozoic players, that is, players in the 99/00 and 01/02 age groups (26 to 30 years old at that time), can also account for about 1/4, mainly the current national team players Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Shenglong, Xie Wenneng, Xu Haoyang, Liu Ruofan, etc.; Third, the proportion of players in the 03/04 and 05/06 age groups may be close to half, and of course some players in the 07/08 age group may also be included, which is actually the key to youth, and this group of players is more concentrated in the midfield or on the side of the defensive line.

A more accurate description is: the national football team needs to give young players more space to play in the midfield, including the defensive line, on the basis of the old players bringing new players and the middle generation sitting in the back.

It has to be said that the naturalization strategy, if there is a suitable goal and it is not difficult to promote the work, it can naturally continue to be promoted. The crux of the matter is that in recent years, the club has changed foreign aid frequently, and there are not many candidates who meet the goal of naturalization, and most of the many goals are too old by the time of the next World Cup, of course, it is not without goals, such as the current number one foreign aid in the Chinese Super League Cressan (born in 1996) is eligible and just 31 years old when the next World Cup starts, and there is a possibility of naturalization, and he has also personally considered it. Leonardo, who was born in 1997, may also be a target, as he spent 2022 on loan in the K-League and will not qualify until early 2028, when the 2030 World Cup qualifiers have just begun. If these two players can be kept in good form, they can be considered for naturalization.

During the round of 18 this time, captain Wang Dalei has been motivating the players, and he has also played well in the game, but the 36-year-old is likely to be unable to play in the next World Preliminaries, and the other two goalkeepers, 35-year-old Liu Dianzuo and 34-year-old Yan Junling, are not likely to play. The current number one star Wu Lei is 34 years old this year, plagued by injuries, and his role in the top 18 is limited, and the possibility of being selected for the national football team in the future is actually not very likely, of course, including the 33-year-old Li Lei, who is currently in the national security has declined sharply, and this is probably his last World Preliminaries.

The 2030 World Cup qualifiers are normally opened in the second half of 2027, strictly speaking, it is difficult for players in the entire 93 age group to participate, such as this World Preliminary Tournament, 89-year-old players are a little inadequate, and the conscientious Zhang Linpeng withdrew from the national team in the round of 36, in fact, there are only two goalkeepers in the entire 89/90 age group.

More than that, players in the age group of 95 are basically around 33 years old at the time of the 2030 World Cup qualifiers. Many fans may have noticed that some veterans are thriving in the Chinese Super League, but this premise is that foreign aid actually plays a more critical role, and some teams play a systematic style, which is more suitable for veterans to play.

Because it is difficult for the national football team to have systematic tactics, the future is likely to be dominated by crazy scrambling, and with the decline in the physical fitness of players at the age of 95, it also means that they will withdraw from the national team in a large area.

In fact, during this World Cup qualifiers, the only players in the 1991 age group (excluding goalkeepers) were Wu Lei and Li Lei, and Wu Lei was absent due to injury for a long time. Of course, in the next year or two, some players aged 95 can be selected for the national team if they have a strong enough desire to play for the country and are willing to accept any arrangement from the head coach to ensure a stable transition of the national team, which should theoretically be from September 2025 to the end of 2026.

But there is no absolute, this year's 38-year-old Yu Hanchao is still playing a strange role in Shanghai Shenhua, but for some reason he missed the national football team, if the veterans maintain a good condition and are willing to be on the bench at any time, they can naturally be selected for the national football team and play the role of a treasure in the family.

The selection of the 95 and 97 age group veterans is actually relatively simple, just choose the key players. Players in the 99/00 and 01/02 age groups, because they are currently around 25 years old, are relatively clear about the players to choose from - if they have not become an absolute main force and have performed well at this time, the room for future development is very limited, although it cannot be ruled out that players who are late bloomers, but that is often the case.

In these two age groups, there are 8 members of the national team, namely Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Shenglong, the two central defenders who entered the list, Wu Shaocong, who can be qualified as a central defender, full-back and even a guest full-back, as well as midfielder Xu Haoyang, as well as Wang Haijian, Wang Zhenao and Tao Qianglong, who were previously selected for the national team, plus Liu Zhurun, who was recruited this time. The target player is also Liao Jintao, who plays as a midfielder.

03/04 age group players are generally good, selected for the national team or inspected by the national team Hu Hetao, Bai Helamu, Wang Shiqin, Liu Haofan, Xu Bin, Wumi Tijiang and Mai Wulang, in addition to Xiang Yu Wang and goalkeeper Li Hao has also received more attention, Xiang Yu Wang performed very well in the league, Li Hao is the youngest Chinese Super League main goalkeeper and stable performance, in the current situation of Han Jiaqi's injury, Li Hao can focus on training.

05 and below age group players selected for the national team is Wang Yudong and Liu Chengyu, they will naturally enter the future national team, the target player is basically the U20 Asian Cup frontcourt main force that is Kuai Jiwen, Mao Weijie, etc., in addition to He Yiran, Yang Xi and other backfield players are also worth paying attention to, they are currently playing stable or began to sit firmly in the main force, the younger age of the 08 national youth center Wei Xiangxin, has scored the first goal of the 08 age group of the Chinese Super League, the younger age of the players have not yet shown themselves in the league, but the future can keep an eye on.

Because the oldest of these players is only 20 years old and the younger one is only 17 years old, it is likely that the next two years will change drastically, so the main thing for them is to keep an eye on them. This observation is mainly for the next U23 national team: the 2026 U23 Asian Cup will be held in January next year, and then the Chinese Football Association can form a U21 national team based on the 05 age group (preparing for the 2008 U23 Asian Cup), and the Ministry of State Management can observe it up close and give them more training through more international competitions.

Young players lack stability, starting from the East Asian Cup in July this year, the next year or so will be more about observation and investigation, and at the end of 2026, the national football team can actually build a relatively stable young squad and fully exercise in the 2027 Asian Cup.