Chinese football made a surprising decision. 'Former top scorer of the Norwegian second division' Heo Yong-yong (27, Yunnan Yikun) has been excluded from the final roster. Instead, 2006-born Liu Cheng-wei (19, Shangqiyi Shenhua) was chosen by head coach Branko Ivankovic.

The Chinese national football team announced the roster for the 7th and 8th matches of the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup Asian third qualifiers on the 16th. China will play an away match against Saudi Arabia on the 21st and then face Australia at home on the 25th.

China is in danger of being eliminated from the qualifiers. Currently, China is at the bottom of Group C with 6 points. While the points are the same as 3rd place Indonesia, 4th place Saudi Arabia, and 5th place Bahrain, China significantly lags behind Bahrain in goal difference (-10 to -5). It is a challenging situation to overturn the goal difference with 4 matches remaining.

The remaining schedule includes matches against Saudi Arabia, Australia, Indonesia, and Bahrain. If China fails to qualify for the World Cup again, it will be their sixth consecutive failure to reach the finals. China has not made it to the World Cup stage since the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.

Therefore, Chinese football is betting everything on this March A match. Chinese media have collectively described it as a 'life-or-death battle.' In fact, the Chinese national team has already flown to the Middle East well in advance to conduct group training and build team cohesion.

Head coach Ivankovic selected 27 players from the 34 who trained together. Key players such as naturalized Brazilian midfielder Serginho, Zhang Shenglong, Behram Abduheli, Lin Liangming, and Wei Shao were included. Several veteran players, including 1989-born defender Zhang Linpeng and injured Wu Lei, were excluded.

Particular attention is focused on Heo Yong-yong's exclusion. He participated in all training sessions with the national team in the Middle East, but failed to make the final 27-man roster. Although it seemed he would make the national team for the first time after becoming naturalized in China, it did not materialize.

Heo Yong-yong is the first naturalized player of the Chinese national team. He, of Chinese and Norwegian descent, changed his nationality in 2019 under the Chinese government's extensive naturalization policy and joined Beijing Guoan. However, he has not been selected for the Chinese national team since then.

In response, Heo Yong-yong returned to the Norwegian second division team Lahnheim Fortball in 2022 and made a strong impact. Notably, in the 2024 season, he took on an offensive role despite being a midfielder, scoring 19 goals and winning the top scorer and most valuable player (MVP) awards. Coach Ivankovic also called Heo Yong-yong to recent training.

However, Coach Ivankovic's final choice was Liu Cheng-wei, not Heo Yong-yong. This means Liu Cheng-wei, a promising talent born in 2006, will join the A national team alongside his peer Wang Yidong. Chinese 'Sohu' remarked, "Who would have thought that Heo Yong-yong would be omitted from the roster!"

Questions are arising about whether Liu Cheng-wei is a better player than Heo Yong-yong. Liu Cheng-wei is still an unproven asset on the professional stage and recently faced disappointment at the U-20 Asian Cup held in China, where he was blamed for China's elimination after missing a penalty during the quarterfinals against Saudi Arabia.

Nevertheless, Ivankovic's unexpected selection of Liu Cheng-wei has raised doubts among Chinese fans. According to Sohu, one fan questioned, "Isn't Heo Yong-yong the top scorer and MVP better than Liu Cheng-wei?"

Sohu explained, "First of all, Heo Yong-yong and Liu Cheng-wei do not play the same position. Starting striker Zhang Yuning did not participate in the friendly match against Kuwait due to injury. If he does not recover, Liu Cheng-wei can take his place. Heo Yong-yong did not perform well when played as a center forward in the league." They further stated, "Ivankovic did not get a strong impression of Heo Yong-yong during the national team training and friendly matches. Football should be decided by skills."

[Photo] Sohu, Chinese national team's social media.

[OSEN]