China unveils 25-man roster for WC qualifiers

HAIKOU - The Chinese national football team has announced a 25-man squad here on Wednesday to prepare for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Oman as four Brazilian-born naturalized players and star forward Wu Lei were not included.

With only five points in eight previous games, China has already lost the hope to qualify for 2022 Qatar World Cup despite two rounds of the qualifying match remaining.

Naturalized forwards Ai Kesen, Luo Guofu, Fei Nanduo and A Lan, who terminated their contracts with Chinese Super League side Guangzhou FC last month due to the club's financial crisis, now live in Brazil and have not been called up by the Chinese head coach Li Xiaopeng, citing that they are not in good physical condition to compete.

Wu Lei will not play the next two matches to fight for a position in his club Espanol of Spain's La Liga. Forward Wei Shihao and midfielder Chi Zhongguo were not listed in the roster due to injury.

The Chinese team, with only three forwards Zhang Yuning, Tan Long and Liu Binbin, is scheduled to fly to Dubai, the UAE on Thursday, when the British-born defender Jiang Guangtai and Li Lei from Swiss club Grasshopper Zurich will join the team there.

China will play against Saudi Arabia at Sharjah, UAE on March 24, and then meet Oman in an away game five days later.

Following is the 25-man roster:

Goalkeeper: Wang Dalei, Liu Dianzuo, Yan Junling;

Defender: Zhu Chenjie, Zhang Linpeng, Wang Shenchao, Zheng Zheng, Yu Dabao, Ji Xiang, Liu Yang, Jiang Guangtai, Tong Lei, Li Lei, Gao Zunyi;

Midfielder: Hao Junmin, Wu Xi, Xu Xin, Jin Jingdao, Dai Weijun, Zhang Xizhe, Liao Lisheng, Gao Tianyi;

Forward: Zhang Yuning, Tan Long, Liu Binbin.