Wu Lichuan/Wen On the evening of October 6th Beijing time, in the 2026 CFA China Team Chongqing International Football Invitational, China was defeated 0-1 by Tajikistan.

In the previous three matches, the Chinese national football team only defeated the absolute weak team Maldives 3-0. In the matches against New Zealand and Palestine, they suffered devastating defeats with scores of 0-3 and 0-5, respectively. In historical matches, the Chinese national football team has never lost to the Palestinian team and has drawn with the New Zealand team multiple times, even if they lose, it is a small loss. Being beaten up by such opponents has triggered a public opinion tsunami.

Before the match against Tajikistan, the head coach of the Chinese national football team, Shao Jiayi, publicly stated that the team will be more unified in terms of spirit and technical tactics, hoping to give fans a satisfactory result. However, during the game, the competitive state of the Chinese national football team did not improve at all, nor did they show a thirst to win. Instead, they were intimidated by this opponent who ranked lower than themselves. As a result, after a 28 year hiatus, the national football team was scored by the Tajikistan team. Captain Wei Shihao was sent off due to losing control of his emotions and elbowing his opponent, which can be described as losing both games.

Rather than saying that Shao Jiayi broke his promise, it is more accurate to say that he has lost control over this new national football team. A typical example is when the team was humiliated by the Palestinian team with 5 goals and the situation got out of control, but as the head coach, he had no way out. This situation and scene cannot help but evoke the bewildered look on the head coach Camacho's face when the Chinese national football team suffered a "1-5 shame" in Hefei in 2013. At that time, it was also in an invitation match that the Chinese national football team was kicked to pieces by the Thai youth army. After the game, head coach Camacho was dismissed by the Chinese Football Association, and the former head coach of the Spanish team passed away due to his inability to lead the national football team. And Chinese football legend Fan Zhiyi left a famous saying: Some players lose face, losing to Thailand, then losing to Vietnam, and finally losing to Myanmar, there is no team left to lose.

To be honest, in these four matches, Shao Jiayi did not demonstrate convincing coaching skills. But this is not the main reason for the serious performance disorder of the Chinese national football team - the habitual "falling off" of the Chinese national football team in invitation matches or warm-up matches is the most concerning "lesion". Compared to the 'tragedy' 13 years ago, this triple defeat reflects the problem more clearly: what the national team lacks is not only technical and tactical abilities, but also morale.

After the Battle of Zhongta, Shao Jiayi apologized to the fans in a rare way. At the same time, he also argued that although the result was not satisfactory, the game process was acceptable and "improvement requires time and trial and error". Such vague or even perfunctory words are certainly not satisfactory. Trial and error are indispensable for any team, but these few matches of the Chinese national football team have nothing to do with "trial and error". During the game, several national football players were careless and made frequent mistakes in passing and receiving, reflecting their attitude towards handling the game. In fact, Shao Jiayi mentioned it after the Chinese national football team lost 0-5 to the Palestinian team. Perhaps at this time, everyone's thoughts are not very unified, and some players are still thinking about the league and the AFC Champions League.Criticizing the team members so directly indicates that the relevant issues are already very serious.

Facing the Tajikistan team, Shao Jiayi's "solution" was to remove multiple players from the starting lineup, but he failed to solve the core problem of "the entire team's state is not online". Indeed, when players only think about the league and the AFC Champions League, how can they wake up those who pretend to be asleep on the field? Don't forget, there have been cases in the past few years where players avoided national football calls due to injuries, only to turn around and thrive in the league. As a result, "feigned injury" has become another new term in Chinese football.

Of course, slacking off in warm-up matches or commercial matches is also a common phenomenon in international football, even some world-class teams cannot avoid it. For example, La Liga players, including Barcelona players, have complained that commercial tour matches are too tiring. In this situation, it is common for players to work without putting in effort. Therefore, protecting the legitimate interests of players while scientifically arranging warm-up matches can be considered a global proposition.

However, the number of warm-up matches arranged for the Chinese national football team this year is not too many but too few, far from causing players to excessively consume. Moreover, the Chinese national football team is preparing for the Asian Cup to be held in January next year. By playing more high-quality warm-up matches, it is necessary and important to practice the lineup, assess players in various positions, and find "sparring partners" for the team who can simulate their opponents in the tournament. A few months ago, the Chinese national football team politely declined the invitation to the Southeast Asian Cup, stating that they would focus on playing the Chongqing International Football Invitational. One important reason was that their warm-up style could be similar to their Asian Cup opponents. Is there any reason for the Chinese national football team to neglect these four matches?

Choosing players who are both capable and willing to play for their country to form a national team is an eternal topic. But for a long time, the Chinese national football team has not truly solved this problem, leading to some players being distracted and lacking in fighting spirit, which is the key to frequent "historic" losses. As for the root cause, it is that many players only focus on immediate benefits, greedy for the title of national team player but afraid of injury and affecting club games. This is two sides of the same crux, as some hopeful stars would rather stay in China and earn high salaries than stay abroad to hone themselves. It is an undeniable fact that the utilitarian football culture still permeates the football world.

Shao Jiayi is responsible for the formation of the national team and technical and tactical training, but he cannot take responsibility for the ecological problems of the entire Chinese football world. To solve the problem, the only way is to follow the path of football reform and completely break the utilitarian football framework by resolving the chaos of low ability, high salary, and worldly football. On this basis, we should innovate the national team construction system and mechanism, establish the belief that it is everyone's responsibility to play for the country, and let truly talented and courageous players take on great responsibilities, in order to possibly change the face of the national football team.

(The author is a senior media professional)

(Author's Commentary)