China National Football Team manager Branko Ivanković has announced his 27-man squad for the country’s World Cup Qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Australia.
China enters the next phase of qualifying fixtures tied on six points with three other countries, one point behind second-placed Australia, and hope in their hearts that this can finally be the time they qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 2002.
The biggest talking point over Ivanković’s latest squad is the inclusion of former Changchun Yatai captain and recent Beijing Guoan signing Serginho, now called Sai Erjiniao after naturalising as a Chinese player.
The 30-year-old, who celebrated his birthday with the China National Team yesterday (15th March), is expected to make his international debut for Team Dragon against either Saudi Arabia or Australia this month.
His experience in China and his general playmaking quality should be complimentary to his team’s attacking unit and provide them with a genuine distributor in midfield who can have a serious influence on matches.
While his inclusion in the side was largely expected, the omission of Hou Yongyong certainly wasn’t.
Born John Hou Saeter, Hou Yongyong was brought into the China National Team training camp for the first time in January before making a permanent move to Yunnan Yukun after a strong, MVP-winning season back in Norway.
It was largely expected that he would earn his first cap with the national team this time around, especially after showing such consistent scoring form in Europe despite traditionally playing in the centre of midfield.
However, there was no place for him despite the desperate need for goals from this team and the clear aim of qualifying for the World Cup being on the line.
Instead, though, Ivanković has opted to bring in two uncapped 18-year-olds in the form of Liu Chengyu and Wang Yudong from Shanghai Shenhua and Zhejiang respectively.
The decision to include two young players with such little professional experience, just 17 Chinese Super League appearances between them (only one for Liu Chengyu), when there are other experienced players that could have a bigger impact, is baffling.
Ivanković needs a positive result, so opting to bring in such inexperienced players who are unlikely to even play is questionable at best and should be questioned if China struggles up front against Saudi Arabia or Australia.
At the opposite end of the pitch, Ivanković has opted to keep three experienced, aging goalkeepers in the team while leaving out the expected future between the posts in Han Jiaqi.
Wang Dalei, Yan Junling and Liu Dianzuo retain their places in the team, while the Beijing Guoan stopper waits to add to his three international cap – all of which were earned in 2022 at the EAFF E-1 Football Championship when the team was effectively the China Under-23s with a couple of veteran players included.
Otherwise, the team is largely as expected from Ivanković with few other question marks raised.
The Full Team
Goalkeepers
Yan Junling – Shanghai Port
Liu Dianzuo – Chengdu Rongcheng
Wang Dalei – Shandong Taishan
Defenders
Jiang Guangtai – Shanghai Port
Wei Zhen – Shanghai Port
Wang Zhen’ao – Shanghai Port
Yang Zexiang – Shanghai Shenhua
Jiang Shenglong – Shanghai Shenhua
Han Pengfei – Chengdu Rongcheng
Hu Hetei – Chengdu Rongcheng
Lei Lei – Beijing Guoan
Gao Zhunyi – Shandong Taishan
Midfielders
Xu Haoyang – Shanghai Shenhua
Wang Haijian – Shanghai Shenhua
Cao Yongjing – Beijing Guoan
Sai Erjiniao – Beijing Guoan
Li Yuanyi – Shandong Taishan
Xie Wenneng – Shandong Taishan
Cheng Jin – Zhejiang
Wang Shangyuan – Henan
Forwards
Liu Chenyu – Shanghai Shenhua
Wei Shihao – Chengdu Rongcheng
Wang Ziming – Beijing Guoan
Zhang Yuning – Beijing Guoan
Lin Liangming – Beijing Guoan
Wang Yudong – Zhejiang
Behram Abduweli – Shenzhen Peng City