On January 11th, the Chinese national football team began training at the Mission Hills base in Haikou, Hainan. A total of 32 players were called up for this training session, with 31 actually attending. The naturalized player Elkeson has not yet found a new club in the Chinese Super League and is currently on vacation in Brazil, so he requested leave and did not participate in this training. As for Wu Lei and Jiang Guangtai, they will also miss this training due to injuries.
Among the players in this training session, two stand out the most.
Hou Yongyong, 27 years old, is a naturalized player. In the 2024 season, he played for Lillestrøm in the Norwegian First Division, starting all 29 matches, scoring an impressive 19 goals and contributing 8 assists. His outstanding performance earned him the titles of top scorer and best player of the 2024 season in the Norwegian First Division, which is quite remarkable!
Hou Yongyong's performance in the Norwegian First Division has been truly impressive, with a high goal-scoring rate. Every time he steps onto the field, he fills people with anticipation and often brings victory to the team in critical moments. His goals not only bring glory to himself but also contribute significantly to the team's achievements, which is truly admirable!
Hou Yongyong's exceptional performance in the Norwegian First Division has caught the attention of Ivan and the Norwegian Premier League teams. On January 5th, the Norwegian Premier League powerhouse Rosenborg made their first offer to Lillestrøm, expressing their desire to sign Hou Yongyong. However, Lillestrøm rejected the offer outright. Not long after, Rosenborg prepared to make a second offer, demonstrating their sincerity by saying, "We sincerely hope to bring Hou Yongyong on board. This time we have made an offer, and we hope everything goes smoothly."
Many people have the misconception that the level of the Norwegian league is low. However, this is not the case. The Norwegian Premier League giants Bodø/Glimt have made a name for themselves in the Europa League, reaching the playoff stage, and the Norwegian Premier League also has two spots for the UEFA Europa Conference League! Currently ranked 15th in Europe, ahead of the Danish and Greek leagues, it is evident that the level of the Norwegian league is not low at all. If Hou Yongyong can successfully join Rosenborg and compete in the upcoming Norwegian Premier League, it will undoubtedly be greatly beneficial to his growth and development.
Wearing the number 10 jersey for Lillestrøm in the Norwegian First Division, Hou Yongyong specializes in the attacking midfielder role. Since joining the national team, Ivan has also assigned him to continue in this position. Hou Yongyong's skills as an attacking midfielder, whether it's ball control, dribbling, organizing attacks, or physical confrontation, are clearly "a notch above" domestic players. After several days of training, Hou Yongyong's performance has received high praise from Ivan, who hopes that he can maintain this level. Therefore, Hou Yongyong is likely to become the starting attacking midfielder and represent the national team in the four 18-strong matches in March and June.
Clearly, Hou Yongyong is a "true" attacking midfielder, while the national team previously relied on wingers such as Wei Shihao and Li Yuan to fill in at this position during the 18-strong matches. With Hou Yongyong's addition, Ivan's smile finally brightened. The national team now has a reliable candidate for the attacking midfielder position, ensuring the offensive system. However, the defensive midfielder position has given Ivan a headache, as the current starting defensive midfielder Wang Shangyuan seems somewhat "overwhelmed." Especially for the upcoming away matches against Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, which will be tough battles. Looking at the entire Chinese Super League, only the naturalized player Li Ke barely meets Ivan's requirements for a defensive midfielder.
Li Ke previously played four times for Arsenal in the English Premier League and was later loaned to Brentford in the English Championship, where he served as the starting defensive midfielder. Now, he has joined Shanghai Shenhua, the runners-up of the Chinese Super League. Li Ke's abilities in physical confrontation and positioning at the defensive midfielder position are particularly favored by Ivan. The national team initially planned to call up Li Ke for this training session, but it turned out that there were conflicts between Li Ke and the former national team coach Dragan Stojković as well as the Football Association, which affected the selection process for this national team.
Li Ke last played for the national team in the World Cup qualifier match against South Korea at home in 2023. In January this year, he unexpectedly failed to make the Asian Cup squad, with reports suggesting that it was due to being late for training, leading to Stojković's decision to "freeze him out," which Li Ke also described as being expelled. Subsequently, the Football Association supported Stojković's punishment. Li Ke expressed, "Several other national team players were also late, but only he received severe punishment, which is clearly unfair." He believes that Stojković and the Football Association's actions were unjust, resulting in significant resistance to the national team's call-up.
According to sports media reports, "National team coach Ivan has repeatedly tried to persuade Li Ke to represent the national team in the 18-strong matches, but Li Ke still chose to reject the national team. Ivan feels regretful that such an outstanding defensive midfielder at the English Championship level is unable to play for the national team due to such a minor issue, and he laments for both the national team and Chinese football." What do you think?