Seven changes from previous China lineup
Newly appointed China head coach Marcello Lippi unveiled his first -national team squad on Monday as China prepare for November's World Cup qualifier against Qatar, with -seven changes from the previous squad.
Though Lippi said he would -consider players from Guangzhou Evergrande - which Lippi coached from 2012 to 2014 - as the national team's backbone, he selected seven players - a regular number for the team in previous national training sessions - from the Chinese Super League (CSL) champions.
Veteran Zheng Zhi returned to the squad after being cut during former coach Gao Hongbo's tenure.
Zheng is expected to team up with clubmate Huang Bowen in the midfield.
Shanghai SIPG - which finished third in the CSL - contributed five players to the national team, including 23-yar-old fullback Fu Huan.
Cao Yunding of Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, whose solid performance in the later stage of the CSL sealed Shenhua in the top four, was also included.
Cao's inclusion means seven China internationals - besides the four SIPG players, defenders Zhang Linpeng of Evergrande and Jiang Zhipeng of Guangzhou R&F - came from legend Xu Genbao's -Shanghai-based Genbao Football Academy.
Gu Chao, keeper of CSL runners-up Jiangsu Suning, was replaced by Shandong Luneng's Wang Dalei.
Gu's blunder in his second -national duty - a 1-0 defeat to Syria on October 6 in Xi'an, Northwest -China's Shaanxi Province - still -receives criticism.
But Luneng's first-choice -keeper Wang has witnessed his team -concede 45 goals in the 2016 league season, the sixth-most among all 16 CSL teams.
Wang is often considered a keeper who did well at "major" games.
Along with Wang's return, Beijing Guoan's Yu Dabao was also chosen into the 25-man squad after missing the previous national games in -October.
Lippi's predecessor Gao came -under fire for retaining defender Ren Hang, who didn't play any competitive club-level match since June, in the national team.
Ren's current club Hebei China Fortune have no players included in the current lineup, though Hebei's Jiang Ning was the top scorer during Gao's tenure.
But former China Fortune coach Li Tie has replaced Guo Bingyan as the national team's director.
During Li's stint with Hebei, he took a swipe at Guo over the national team selections.
The team will train for two weeks in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province, before hosting Qatar there.
China currently rank at the bottom of the six-team Group A.
With only the top-two teams from the group qualifying automatically for the 2018 World Cup and the third-placer offered a potential passage to the tournament through two playoffs, China's chances of making the World Cup appear slim.
