Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Wang Xiaorui reported in Chongqing
For qualifying, this victory came too late.
After the game, we can hear his relief from Ivan’s mouth. With the traditional three-strong team Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia, and the Indonesian team, which is supported by naturalized troops, is placed in front of it, it is not easy for the Chinese team to score 9 points. Ivan and his disciples also released 1-0 in the last match of the quarterfinals. Although this final victory and this victory came a little late. But on Ivan’s face, he was still tough to the end. He didn’t seem very willing to do so, but he might still have a chance.
After defeating Jakarta, Ivan knew that the 2026 World Cup had gone far away from him and the Chinese team, but he did not give up the opportunity to re-realize his name. After he came to Chongqing with the team, he has always adhered to the goal of winning. In fact, Ivan also knew very well that he needed to return to home court and leave something for Chinese fans: “We were very happy and satisfied to end the World Cup qualifiers with a victory. In front of so many fans at home, the players withstood the pressure, fully utilized their abilities, and fully ran and fought…”
This final battle with Bahrain seems to be exactly the same as the previous away game in Rifa. The Chinese team is still the passive side of the game. The last time the ball possession rate is less than 30%. Although the return to home this time increased by ten percentage points, it was still less than 40%. However, in terms of offensive conversion rate, the Chinese team is still a more efficient team, with several more corner kicks than the Bahrain team. No wonder Ivan said bluntly after the game: “The opponent is a strong team, but we played a wonderful game.”
The same is a decisive game, but compared to away games in this game, Ivan’s most surprising move was two adjustments in the second half. First, in the 59th minute, Liu Chengyu and Xu Haoyang were replaced, and the 442 diamond midfielder was changed to a parallel position, which in a sense even was similar to 424. At the last moment, Han Pengfei and Wang Ziming were sent to the field and even made a strong attack from three centers. At this time, Han Pengfei even began to play a guest appearance as a striker and repeatedly used his body to try to create threats.
The above changes in the lineup were quite rare in the more than a year when Ivan coached the Chinese team. Some people say that Ivan became too late. If he had been so bold in the previous World Cup qualifiers, perhaps the Chinese team would not have fallen to being eliminated one round early. The basis for this statement is that the penalty kick created by the Chinese team is due to this life-threatening momentum. So after the game, Ivan said: “In the future, we will further strengthen our technical and tactical styles.and correction; we must continue to advance in selecting people and select better players. I also believe that the team can become stronger and have a better future on the right path. ”
However, just after the game, he also expressed his desire to continue leading the team: “Through the previous World Cup, many young players have been trained, and I believe that the next step of using the opportunity of friendly matches can better train players. In the past year, the team has only arranged one warm-up (March vs. Kuwait), and next, we will have more friendly matches to test the players and the overall team. “Under the attention of everyone, the 71-year-old man even began to look forward to his trip to South Korea next month: “From the perspective of national team building, there will be international matches to arrange friendly matches, and he will participate in the East Asian Cup in a month. The opponents include South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong, China…” It is obvious that Ivan did not want to hand over the coach position easily. In fact, after the game, he did not make any farewell statement in front of the players, and everything was similar to usual: “The atmosphere in the lounge after the game is very good, and everyone has no pressure. “Wang Dalei revealed.
Ivan did not show any farewell, but also because of some confidence he had. It is understood that when he signed the contract, he directly signed a three-year long-term contract until the end of the 2027 Asian Cup. Of course, during this period, the contract details will provide performance assessments for the specific work of Ivan leading the team, especially the phased goals. For example, the earliest first task is to lead the Chinese team to the top 18 of the World Cup, which was successful in June last year. Only after completing the goal can Ivan continue to lead the team to the top 18. Now that the top 18 matches are over, after failing to lead the team to the next stage of the qualifiers, Ivan also needs to face the performance judgment of the Chinese Football Association, so that the latter will decide whether to extend the next stage of the contract to the end of the 2027 Asian Cup or terminate the contract.
In fact, it is not just Ivan. Jiuerjevic, who led the National Youth Team to the U20 Asian Cup round of 8 at the beginning of this year but failed to enter the World Youth Championship, is also similar to Ivan. Experience. After leading the 99/00 Asian Games team to the top 8 of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Jiuerjevic also re-signed with the Chinese Football Association for four years to coach the National Youth Team, with the goal directly targeting the 2025 U20 World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. However, after failing to enter the World Youth Championship, Jiuerjevic failed to complete the phased game mission, but this does not prevent him from continuing to cooperate with the Chinese Football Association. In fact, it is also due to the latter’s recognition of his leadership. Currently at U As the 20th National Youth Team is temporarily over, Jiuerjevic has begun to be responsible for the auditions and inspections of the new U18 National Youth Team players. This year, he may also participate in the construction of the next National Olympic Team training camp.
Therefore, there may be certain variables regarding Ivan’s future prospects, as he presented at the post-match press conference. Of course, this also requires the final decision of the Chinese Football Association and even all aspects. However, the East Asian Cup is imminent, especially the Chinese team is veryThe training camp may be organized around July 2, and the time for the revelation of this suspense may not be long.