According to Xiao Nan, a reporter for the Beijing Youth Daily, Chinese national football team head coach Ivankovic will attend the Chinese Super League match between Tianjin Tiger and Qingdao West Coast on July 27, primarily to assess the performance of naturalized forward Alan.
It is reported that in order to cope with unexpected situations including player injuries, the national team coaching staff plans to select nearly 55 players for the preliminary registration list for the 18-team tournament. This includes new additions such as Guoan goalkeeper Han Jiaqi and Sanzhen forward Tao Qianglong. However, since there is still one month until the training camp begins on August 23, the coaching staff has yet to finalize the 28-player training squad.
As per the plan, the coaching staff led by Ivankovic will continue to closely monitor the performances of potential national team players during this time. To that end, he will travel to Tianjin on July 27 to watch the home match between Tianjin Tiger and Qingdao West Coast, with the primary aim being to assess the performance of naturalized forward Alan from West Coast.
This season, Alan has made 18 appearances for West Coast in the Chinese Super League, scoring eight goals and providing four assists. Previously, he also played in the national team’s 36-team qualifier match against Thailand at home but was forced to leave early due to injury.
In addition, Chinese assistant coach Zheng Zhi will travel to Shenzhen on the 26th to watch the match between Shenzhen Xinpengcheng and Beijing Guoan at Shenzhen’s home ground.