The Chinese football team is working on a detailed plan for their final Asian World Cup qualifiers, which will also deal with the possibility of China's home games moved away due to the pandemic, Chinese Football Association president Chen Xuyuan told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Chen, currently under quarantine in Suzhou alongside the Chinese squad after coming back from Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates where China won three second-round World Cup qualifiers to join the third round of 12 teams, said China's preparation for that round has started.

Last Saturday, two day's after their return from Sharjah, the Chinese side held a meeting at their quarantine hotel to discuss how to prepare for their third-round World Cup qualifiers, which will kick off in early September, Chen said.

The draw for the third-round qualifiers will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 1, with the 12 teams to be split into two groups of six.

Chen said one of the Chinese side's major concerns is how to ensure their final round home games are not moved away due to China's pandemic prevention and control policy, which saw their last three second-round home games moved to Sharjah at the eleventh hour.

China had been supposed to play these games in Suzhou from May 30 to June 15.

But as the Maldives and Syrian sides could not get permission to enter China due to pandemic-prevention reasons, the Chinese squad had to jet off to the United Arab Emirates to play these games at short notice.

"We hope this will not happen again. We hope we will not lose our home advantage for the next-phase World Cup qualification," Chen said.

But he admitted that the situation is out of the Chinese FA's control.

"It is an uncertainty. We have to be prepared in the event that our home games may be moved away," he said.

Chen also confirmed that Li Tie will stay on as head coach to guide the Chinese side in their next round World Cup qualification campaign.

"There does not exist the issue if Li Tie will sign an extension. He is the head coach and will lead the team in the next World Cup qualifiers," he said.

Some Chinese media reported that Li was unsure of his future as he did not sign any contract extension with the Chinese FA after returning from Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates.

"We have an assessment of the coaching staff every year. If they can make the team progress on the right track, we should let them continue doing their job under stable conditions," he said.

"We will not sack head coaches only because their teams lose a game or two," he said.

China will play several high-quality games to warm up for their next World Cup qualifiers, according to Chen.

"Our team need to play some quality matches to prepare for the final round of World Cup qualifiers which will be much tougher than the second round ones. This is very important," he said.

Chen said China will try to send more players to play in Europe after Wu Lei impressed during their World Cup qualifying campaign.

The 29-year-old striker, who joined Spanish club Espanyol in January, 2019, scored five goals for China during their last four games.

"If Wu Lei had not gone to play overseas, he could still be a good player, but could not have been as excellent as he is now," Chen said.

"We need more players like Wu, and we have launched a plan to send more players to play in Europe.

"At the beginning of next year, we will have four or five players playing abroad," he added.

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