The Chinese national team players participate in a training session on Sunday in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. Photo: VCG

The Chinese national soccer team departed for New Zealand on Sunday to prepare for two consecutive friendlies against the All Whites set for March 23 and 26. 

The games will be Serbian coach Aleksandar Jankovic's debut as head coach of China's national team after being appointed for the role in February.

Wu Lei, dubbed the No.1 striker for China, indicated that counterattacks might be the main tactic for the team, as he said the goal for the two matches is to demonstrate the team's new mentality.

"The coach has underlined that we need to win games based on quality defense," Wu told reporters on Saturday, when the team gathered in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, before traveling to New Zealand.

Naturalized players Jiang Guangtai (Tyias Browning) and Ai Kesen (Elkeson) were reportedly not traveling with the team, after it was discovered their body fat ratios did not meet the coach's requirements, according to the Guangzhou-based Xinkuaibao newspaper.

The sudden replacement of the duo, though both were summoned to represent China for the New Zealand games, shows the new coach has certain requirements for his squad rather than simply relying on foreign athletes. 

China has not had any international matches since the East Asian championships in July 2022, when then caretaker Jankovic led the national team to finish at the third place in a four-team competition. Before that, the team only played four World Cup qualifiers in 2022. 

Now sitting in 80th place, the 11th for Asian teams, the China team need to bag FIFA ranking points to make themselves advance into the top 10 in Asia, if they want to secure a better place in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. 

Though most of the New Zealand players are playing overseas, especially in the European leagues, the New Zealand team also have not had too many high-level international matches due to the distance from other continents to the Oceania country.

Ranking in the 105th place in the FIFA world rankings, they have not played any international games since two friendlies with their neighbors Australia in September 2022, but in total the team played 14 international games in 2022.

The national under-22 team, which has been assigned to play for China at the Asian Games later in 2023, will also play friendlies with the New Zealand under-23 team there.