Xinhua News Agency, Amman, February 22 (reporter Lin Xiaowei) on the evening of February 22, local time, the Chinese team lost 62:86 away to Jordan in the sixth window of the men’s basketball World Cup qualifier in 2019. Coach Li Nan said at the post-match press conference that this was the team’s worst performance in the past two years.
Jordan led the Chinese team with 39:34 in the total rebound, of which Jordan grabbed 21 rebounds in the front court, more than 16 of the Chinese team. Li Nan believes that this makes the team encounter great difficulties. “Except Zhou Qi, we actually have no real insider.” Li Nan said that today’s game is the worst one in the past two years.
In addition, the Chinese team has been in a downwind in physical confrontation, which also makes Li Nan very dissatisfied. “In this level of competition and physical confrontation, how to play the technology is a good test for the team today.” Li Nan said that he had repeatedly reminded the players before the game, but the appearance of the game was not satisfactory, and the team had to “find their own problems”.
This round of China’s men’s basketball is mainly based on military training. The lineup was led by Zhou Qi, who just returned to China and has been fighting for a long time. He recruited new people such as Zhao Rui, Abdu salad Wood, Guo Haowen, Chen Linjian, etc, many absolute main players such as Yi Jianlian and Guo Allen were not selected. Li Nan said that the rotation of large-area personnel in the lineup was based on the objective consideration of the final sprint stage of the CBA regular season, and he also hoped to inspect more young players.
He said that the team has arrived in Jordan for 3 days, and there are no fatigue factors such as jet lag. One of the reasons for the poor game is that the training level is not enough, one is that high-level physical confrontation has put a lot of pressure on the players. “I chatted with Zhou Qi in the dressing room just now. His hands shook a little when he took the ball after fighting.” Li Nan said.
Zhou Qi scored 19 points and 10 rebounds in this game. Li Nan believes that he needs more time to knead with the team. He said that from the previous training, Zhou Qi was not in the best state, hoping to gradually recover his state through a series of competitions and to build a tacit understanding with his new teammates. “His status will get better and better as time goes by. I hope he can play better in the next game.”
Li Nan said that China’s men’s basketball level is still in the forefront of Asia. He said that in the past two years, men’s basketball adopted the benign competition mechanism of the red and blue teams, and found that more young players, such as Zhao Rui, Abdu salad Wood and Chen Linjian, had performed well, this mechanism enables more young players to play more international matches, which is a exercise for them and is conducive to the future development of the national team.
Guo Haowen, a teenager from Bayi team, was selected into the national team for the first time and appeared in the competition, becoming the first “post-00s” player to represent China’s men’s basketball, but did not score. Guo Haowen, who once led the Chinese national youth team to win the U18 Asian Youth Championship, said that he hoped to improve himself and integrate into this national team as soon as possible.
Jordan men’s basketball coach Joseph Y-CID Make UP bin is very satisfied with his team’s performance. He said that the Chinese team is a very young team, and the Jordan team showed a good level in the match with them. At the same time, the fanatical atmosphere at home in Jordan also helped the team play more confidently, it is an indispensable and important factor for today’s victory.
China will then go to the capital of Lebanon in men’s basketball to face Syria away on February 24, local time. Jordan will go to New Zealand in the last round to make the final fight for the promotion to the World Cup.