The reporter reported coldly Exactly one year ago, on March 8, 2024, Ivankovic officially announced his appointment in Tianjin and signed a three-year contract, and the "Ivan era" of the Chinese men's national football team kicked off. At that time, Ivan took over in a hurry, and he had to face two key matches in the round of 36 at the end of March. A year later, Ivan's situation is almost the same: he is still facing the World Preliminary Tournament at the end of March, but this time it is the round of 18, and the two matches are related to qualifying.

What do you think of the first year of the opening chapter of the "Ivan era"? This year, Ivan and the national football team he coached first suppressed and then rose, and the round of 36 was thrillingly qualified, and then the round of 18 opened with 3 consecutive defeats, and Ivan even reached the brink of leaving class for a time. But then back-to-back wins over Indonesia and Bahrain, the result of "Yi Wan Wannian" should at least meet the expectations of the outside world. In terms of results, the national football team has maintained the hope of qualifying for the top 18 matches, and the team construction has accelerated the metabolism, which has given the national football team a new look.

In the past year, Ivan passed the round of 36 and the round of 18 to keep the qualification hope of two "high school exams". But the round of 18 in the second year of the "Ivan era" is the most important "big test" in Ivan's 3-year contract. Of course, if Ivan can continue to promote and complete the iteration of the national football team during his tenure, it will not be dishonored.

A year ago, Ivan promised at the inaugural press conference that the national football team "will play better results". He completely expounded the coaching philosophy and plan, hoping that the national football team will focus on offensive football, improve efficiency, and play with the belief of winning. But after all, he took over in a hurry, and Ivanfu could only cross the river by feeling the stones as soon as he took office, running in tactics while familiarizing himself with the players, and even taking into account his metabolism due to veteran injuries and state problems.

The first year of the "Ivan era" of the national football team is basically divided into two stages. In the first half of the year, the "low start" was not good in the case of aging of the main team, the sluggish state of naturalized players, and the lack of familiarity with the international players and opponents. On the debut, he was forced to draw by Singapore by two goals, resulting in a comprehensive passivity in qualifying for the round of 36.

Fortunately, Ivan was favored, and the national football team was thrillingly pulled into the round of 18 by the Singapore goalkeeper. But the round of 18 started with three consecutive defeats, almost exhausting the outside world's patience with Ivan. Away 0-7 defeat to Japan, 1 goal lead at home and 1 more than 1 person was killed by the Saudi team, and the away game against Australia was overturned again after the lead. With only 4 training camps in half a year, Ivan is familiar with the players' run-in tactics and has to prove his coaching ability against the Asian semi-finals. His poor performance has put him under tremendous pressure from public opinion, and at the same time, he has a lot to discuss in terms of on-the-spot response.

Even though the first half of his tenure as a coach was very disappointing, Ivan began to give hope to the outside world through efforts with the help of the Chinese Football Association and the General Administration of Sports to continuously straighten out the management model of the national team. As Ivan made it clear in an interview during the period: he has never been discouraged or given up, and has always tried to adjust his tactics, get to know the players better and give more opportunities to the young players. With the 2-1 home defeat to Indonesia in October as a watershed, the national football team finally saw the hope of bottoming out in the "Year of Yi Wan". Consecutive victories over Indonesia and Bahrain kept the national football team's hopes of qualifying for the round of 18 and the bottom line that the national football team could defeat low-ranked teams.

In an interview with European media at the end of last year, Ivan proudly said that the dream of the National Football World Cup can still be realized. At the end of last year, he submitted a 27-page summary report to the Football Association, which also emphasized that the national football team has made significant progress, and there are still two home games in the round of 18, and he firmly believes that the national football team can perform better.

Compared with 2024, which is "exploring and fighting", Ivan has formulated a full-year plan for the national football team early this year, including an inspection training camp in January, the new season of the Chinese Super League will be held in advance, and the national football team will prepare for the big squad in West Asia in March. It can be seen that Ivan's work in the past six months has been more detailed, more familiar with the national football team, and more confident in the future. As he said in an interview with this newspaper, only by doing 100% of the work can you get the favor of luck, and luck is reserved for the brave and prepared.

Whether it is objective reasons such as injury and status, or subjective will, in addition to maintaining the hope of qualifying for the top 18 in the first year of the "Ivan era" of the national football team, the biggest highlight is to accelerate the metabolism. Rejuvenation is one of Ivan's main goals in charge of the national football team. In March last year, 12 of the 26 players in the first national team squad of the "Ivan era" were over 30 years old, and the average age of the team was as high as 29.6 years old.

Last year, Ivan led the team to the first game in Singapore, and the starting lineup consisted of 7 people over 30 years old, and only Zhu Chenjie was under the age of 25. After that, Ivan continued to investigate and give new people opportunities. There are 5 people under the age of 25 in the starting lineup of the round of 36 against South Korea, including Bai Helamu, Xie Wenneng, Jiang Shenglong, Zhu Chenjie, who gradually gained a foothold in the national football team, and Hu Hetao, Wang Haijian, and Xu Haoyang all got playing time in the future. The national football team has won consecutive victories against Indonesia and Bahrain, and these young players have played an important role.

In November 2024, the 26-man squad of the national football team will drop to 9 players over 30 years old, and the number of players under 25 years old will increase to 9, including 7 post-00 players. The average age of the squad is 27.6 years, down two years from the first squad in March. In November, only 2 of the starting lineup of goalkeeper Wang Dalei and defender Wang Shangyuan were over 30 years old, and there were as many as 4 young players after 00. Players under the age of 25 have become an increasingly important part of the national team.

In order to prepare for the round of 18 in March, Ivan recruited 33 players, as many as 11 post-00 players, accounting for 1/3 of the total number of players, including Wang Yudong and Liu Chengyu, who performed well in the U20 Asian Cup. While most of the young players will not be included in the 23-man squad for the round of 18, the camp will be an invaluable experience for them to prepare for the senior national team.

At the same time, with the naturalization of Serginho, the iteration of naturalized players of the national football team is also going on simultaneously. A year later, the first generation of naturalized players Ackerson, Allan and Fernando are no longer on the list.

Ivan's core task is to lead the team to the next stage of the World Preliminary Championships, and so far, he has stabilized the team's lower limit through pragmatic strategies and the replacement of old and new, but has not significantly increased the ceiling. In the new year, he needs to further hone in on young players, optimize tactical diversity, and further strengthen the combat effectiveness of the national football team against strong Asian teams. If they can balance their performance and long-term development in the process, their coaching value will be more recognized.