China announces 26-man squad for World Cup qualifier

BEIJING -- The Chinese men's soccer team announced a 26-man squad for next month's World Cup qualifier against Maldives, cutting nine men off after the six-day training concluded at Xianghe training base on Friday.

Marcello Lippi's team will next move to Guangzhou, South China for another massive training camp from Sept 2 to 11 to prepare for the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers held in Maldives on Sept 10.

Wu Lei, who's playing in Spanish La Liga club Espanyol, and other 11 players from the Chinese Super League's Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG will join the national team in Guangzhou after missing the Xianghe camp.

Following is the squad:

Forwards: Wu Lei, Elkeson, Yang Liyu, Wei Shihao, Yang Xu, Xie Pengfei

Midfielders: Zheng Zhi, Wu Xi, Hao Junmin, Zhang Xizhe, Huang Bowen, Chi Zhongguo, Xu Xin, Li Ke, Yao Junsheng

Defenders: Zhang Linpeng, Wang Gang, Zhu Chenjie, He Guan, Gao Zhunyi, Li Lei, Li Shuai, Shi Ke

Goalkeepers: Yan Junling, Wang Dalei, Zhang Lu