Asian Cup 2023: China look to youth and intense preparation for finals

By Samindra Kunti in Doha

May 12 - Chinese coach Aleksandar Jankovic, speaking on the sidelines of the 2023 Asian Cup draw, said the future of the Chinese national team looks bright, but the preparation for the Asian Cup will be essential to enjoy a good tournament where they will face Qatar, Lebanon and Tajikistan in Group A.

The Serb coached the Chinese U-23 team for four and a half years before taking on the role of senior manager.

"We have a long road ahead of us to prepare for the Asian Games," Jankovic said. "This group of young players, if they play a good competition, if they show up well in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, can claim their ticket to the national team.

"We have to prove in Hangzhou that this U-23 team is the future of Chinese football. Of course, we have good players in the national team and in the future, it's supposed to be a good mix players to participate in the World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup."

Chinese football has faced myriad problems in recent years with clubs financially collapsing, isolation due to the coronavirus and, as a result, the hosts withdrawing from the Asian Cup. The promised boom through massive investment in star players and youth development never materialized.

"The league was played under different circumstances," Jankovic said. “Now the league has returned to a normal mode. So we try to adapt, we try to make the most of the situation. It was not an easy time for China, but now we are back. (Not holding the tournament) was one of the problems in the previous period. We know the reasons, so we won't dwell on that. »

Instead, Jankovic wants to focus on preparations for the continental final. In the last international window, China took on New Zealand in a double friendly and they want more exposure to strong teams ahead of kick-off in January.

"For us, New Zealand was a valuable experience," Jankovic said. "Contact with high intensity football is very, very important. We will have a lot of matches between now and the start of the Asian Cup. So thinking about the issues is always interesting for the media, but I am focused on the solution, so I focused on the future. That's why I'm happy to see our players performing well in the league. And also we saw a lot of good things in the previous games. We saw of course some bad things that we need to fix. And that's why I'm especially looking forward to the games in June."

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