Reporter Chen Yong reports On February 28, the Chinese Football Association announced the latest national team list for the top 18 in March, with a total of 32 players, including 20 who have played in the top 18, including 15 starters and 5 substitutes, and another 5 starters and 1 substitute player were not selected due to injury or other reasons.

What is worrying is that these 20 main players and rotation players of the national football team have played quite badly in the Super Cup, AFC Champions League Elite League and Chinese Super League.

P.S. The theoretical play-time of a player in this article is calculated as 90 minutes, and the actual playing time does not count injury time.

Since the round of 18 has played 6 rounds, a total of 26 players have played in the national football team, including 20 starters, namely: goalkeeper Wang Dalei; defenders Liu Yang, Li Lei, Hu Hetao, Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Guangtai, Jiang Shenglong, Yang Zexiang, Gao Zhunyi; midfielders Wang Shangyuan, Li Yuanyi, Wei Shihao, Lin Liangming, Xu Haoyang, Xie Wenneng and Cao Yongjing; Forwards Zhang Yuning, Wu Lei, Baihelamu and Fernando. There are 6 substitute players, namely Wei Zhen, Huang Zhengyu, Wang Haijian, Cheng Jin, Alan and Wang Ziming. Of the 26 players, six were not selected for the national team squad: Zhu Chenjie and Wu Lei were absent due to injury, Liu Yang and Li Yuanyi were not recruited, and Fernando and Alain, two naturalized players, were absent because they failed to continue playing in the Chinese Super League.

Among the 20 players who have played in the previous top 18 matches, 6 players from Shanghai Port and Shanghai Shenhua have played more games, except for Wei Zhen who played 2 less games in the AFC Champions League Elite League due to suspension, the remaining 5 players have participated in 5 games, namely 1 Super Cup, 2 AFC Champions League Elite League, and 2 Chinese Super League games, a total of 28 games; Shandong Taishan's 4 players participated in 1 AFC Champions League elite league and two league games, a total of 12 games; 10 players from other clubs played in two league rounds for a total of 20 matches.

The 20 players played a total of 60 games in the new season, and only 23 games (38%) were played by internationals who played more than 60 minutes. The number of games in which the international players played less than 20 minutes was as high as 27, accounting for 45%; The number of games in which the internationals played between 20 minutes and 60 minutes was 10, accounting for 17 per cent.

From the above statistics, it can be seen that the appearance of the international players in the new season is very bad. As for the specific data, the total time of 60 matches is 5,400 minutes, and the total time played by the 20 internationals is only 2,427 minutes, accounting for less than 45%. If you count the two rounds of the league alone, the total number of games is 40 games, the total time is 3,600 minutes, and the total actual playing time of the internationals is only 1,658 minutes, accounting for only 46%.

Among the 20 players, Yang Zexiang, Xu Haoyang, Wang Haijian, Zhang Yuning and Wang Ziming have played very badly, and only Yang Zexiang has played more than 10 minutes as a substitute in the first round of the AFC Champions League Elite League, 45 minutes, and they have not played in 12 of the remaining 18 games. These five players could theoretically play a total of 1,710 minutes, but they only played 121 minutes, or 7 per cent.

Let's look at the location. In the goalkeeper position of the national football team, Wang Dalei has been playing recently. Wang Dalei suffered a red card in the first round of the league and an automatic suspension in the second round of the league in a total of 3 games in the new season, and there may be some problems in terms of state, but Wang Dalei is experienced and the goalkeeper problem is not too big.

At the back line, there is no big problem with the central defender in theory, although Zhu Chenjie is injured, but Jiang Guangtai has returned, he has played the whole game in the last two rounds of the league, Jiang Guangtai + Jiang Shenglong's combination is also trustworthy, in addition, the substitute central defender Wei Zhen is also the main central defender of the harbor, and he and Jiang Guangtai have partnered in the last two rounds of the league. In the full-back position, Hu Hetao is very stable and has assists in the second round of the league; Li Lei has been a substitute in two consecutive rounds of the league, but fortunately, his playing time in the second round of the league has increased a lot; Gao Zhunyi played less and less time, playing time in three games from 90 minutes to 32 minutes and then to zero minutes; Yang Zexiang has played zero minutes in his last three games.

The real problem is the back waist, the first two rounds of the round of 18 against Japan and Saudi Arabia, Jiang Shenglong cameo in the back, but he is not particularly suitable for this position, and then Wang Shangyuan returned to lock the main back position again, but the state of Wang Shangyuan in the new season is not good, he suffered a bone crack before, but he came back in the second round of the league, but it is unknown whether the state can be restored to the best. Substitute midfielder Wang Haijian has been in an extremely poor situation, playing only 15 minutes in five games in the new season, and has not played in the last two league games. Another substitute defender, Hwang Jung-woo, was also less promising, playing just 107 minutes in three games. In addition, full-backs Li Yuanyi and Xu Haoyang both have good defensive ability at the back, but the former was not selected for this list, and the latter only played 30 minutes in five games.

The playing time of the back waist personnel is not ideal, and it can be seen that the back waist must be the biggest problem of the national football team, especially in the two rounds of the top 18 matches in March, the opponents of the national football team are Saudi Arabia and Australia, the opponent has strong attacking power, and the back of the national football team faces higher defensive requirements.

Comparatively speaking, the other positions in the midfield are quite reassuring, the two forwards Lin Liangming and Xie Wenneng, as well as the forward Cao Yongjing, played quite well, Xie Wenneng played a little less, but mainly affected by Wang Dalei's red card, and more importantly, these three players have scored. The players who can start in these three positions are Wei Shihao and Xu Haoyang, Wei Shihao scored in the game against the Jinmen Tigers, and Xu Haoyang's limited playing time is a big problem.

The positions of the frontcourt players of the national football team are often moved, but the center position is currently only Zhang Yuning, Baihelamu and Wang Ziming, of which Zhang Yuning once started with Baihelamu, and Wang Ziming is a substitute. It's a pity that the three don't have much playing time: Zhang Yuning, who has high hopes, only played a total of 17 minutes in two league games, and there won't be much stoppage time; Baihram played 61 minutes in two rounds, including 55 minutes in the first round and 6 minutes as a substitute in the second round; Wang Ziming was in the worst situation, with zero appearances in two league games.

The international team has shown problems with the minutes played in the league and the form of the game, and the national football team needs to deal with this situation at multiple levels.

First of all, the national football team needs to improve the players more systematically through training and games during the training camp. At this level, Shanghai Shenhua's 5 internationals and Shanghai Port's 4 internationals are going to participate in the two-legged AFC Champions League elite league 1/8 finals in March, Yang Zexiang, Wang Haijian and Xu Haoyang can get the opportunity to play is worth paying attention to, as for Zhang Yuning and Li Lei and other players, the national team needs to adjust. In addition to training, the national team is also planning to arrange warm-up matches, which is a very necessary measure.

As for the difficulties in the specific position, on the one hand, the national football team can make up for the weak defense of the back waist position through tactical requirements, which is a common way in the previous top 18 matches, especially the 442 diamond position of the national football team, and the support of other midfielders to the back waist is an important technical and tactical content; On the other hand, the national football team forward line does not necessarily have to be equipped with a center forward, the national football team defeats Indonesia and Bahrain are standard with Zhang Yuning and Baihelamu, of which Baihelamu's position is not a center forward but a large-scale supporting role, the national football team's home game with Japan, Zhang Yuning is injured and Baihelamu is suspended, the front court of the national football team is Wei Shihao, Lin Liangming, Xu Haoyang, Cao Yongjing and Xie Wenneng The fast and flexible combination, and there is no center configuration, and good results have also been achieved.

Secondly, in the long run, the national football team needs to continue to strengthen and track the state of the national team. At present, the Chinese Football Association has established a linkage mechanism with clubs to track the situation of national team players, which is a very good cooperation mechanism. When the national team list was released, the Chinese Super League only played one round, but in the future, as the Chinese Super League deepens, this linkage mechanism can play a role. Of course, this linkage is not mandatory, and the initiative comes from the head coach, including the club's right to speak, but this linkage and communication will play a certain role in the more reasonable use of players.

At present, the international situation of Shanghai Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and Shandong Taishan is the focus, especially Shanghai Shenhua, Yang Zexiang, Wang Haijian and Xu Haoyang have very low playing time, in fact, Shenhua's own rotation has been the focus of media discussion. In terms of national security, Li Lei's appearances have gradually decreased due to age problems, and Zhang Yuning's use problems will always exist this season because of the team's formation and tactical choice. As for Shandong Taishan, Gao Zhunyi's situation is worth paying attention to. In addition, the Chinese Football Association plans to communicate with clubs to encourage them to use young players, especially those in the 2005 age group who have just finished the U20 Asian Cup.

Finally, there is the issue of the selection of the national team. For the main team and the main rotation lineup, the national football team naturally cannot give up easily, but for the selection of other players, in addition to considering the direction of youth, the stability of league appearance and performance should be a very important indicator.