The Chinese national football team has four important matches to play in 2025. In the top 18 qualifiers, they will face Saudi Arabia away and Australia at home in March, Indonesia away in June, and Bahrain at home. The national team is currently only one point behind second-placed Australia in the group, giving them a chance to directly qualify for the World Cup. Next, the national team will start training to prepare for the arrival of key events. Officially withdrawing, Wu Lei announces a new decision, which Ivan approves.
Currently, the group opponents of the national team, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, have Gulf Cup matches, while Indonesia participated in the Southeast Asian Championship. The opponents are using matches as training to strengthen team chemistry, which is unfavorable for the national team. The national team has no match tasks and needs to be more committed during training to exercise the team and discover new talent.
On December 28th, according to a report by Xiao Nan, a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily, the national team is expected to start a training camp of no more than 10 days around January 8th, with the location being Haikou, Hainan, and the training list including about 30 players. The reporter revealed that Wu Lei will be unable to participate in the training due to injury. For the national team, it is regrettable that Wu Lei continues to recover from his injury and cannot return to the team for training or integrate with his teammates.
Wu Lei, 33 years old, is the top scorer in the history of the national team with 36 goals and 10 assists in 99 games. In the last four top 18 qualifiers, Wu Lei was unable to play due to injury, and he also missed the FA Cup final and the last three AFC Champions League matches. Wu Lei is plagued by knee injuries, and his comeback time is currently unknown. Wu Lei is the best player in the national team, and his injury affects the team. A healthy Wu Lei can provide more offensive strategies for the national team. We hope that Wu Lei can recover quickly and help the national team, as the national team needs him in the last four rounds of the World Cup qualifiers.
Reporter Xiao Nan also revealed that under the circumstances where Wu Lei and other veteran players miss the January training camp due to injury, Ivan's coaching staff will supplement new players into the team to further accelerate the team's renewal and rejuvenation. It is reported that Wu Shaocong, who plays for Radomiak in the Polish Super League, and Wu Mitijiang from Wuhan Three Towns are both expected to be selected for the training camp.
The 24-year-old Wu Shaocong once played as a starting center-back for Tofaspor in the Turkish league last season, but injuries affected his overseas career, and he has not yet played this season for Radomiak. Wu Shaocong, standing at 1.92 meters tall, can enhance the national team's ability to defend set pieces from high altitudes. The 20-year-old Wu Mitijiang is a versatile defender who can play as a center-back or full-back. Regular national team players in the previous lineup should also participate in training as long as they are not injured. Looking forward to the national team qualifying in next year's World Cup qualifiers.