Football
Michael Church, Asia correspondent 8y

China boss Gao Hongbo names 25-man squad, including Feng Xiaoting

China national team boss Gao Hongbo has included injured Guangzhou Evergrande defender Feng Xiaoting in his 25-man preliminary squad for next month's 2018 World Cup qualifying matches against South Korea and Iran.

Feng picked up an injury during the national side's training camp in Kunming earlier this month and missed Evergrande's 2-1 defeat against Shanghai Shenghua in the Chinese Super League on Saturday.

The centre-back was also ruled out of his side's 2-2 draw with Guangzhou R&F in the first leg of their Chinese FA Cup meeting on Wednesday evening, while Zhang Linpeng returned for a game in which Ricardo Goulart scored twice for Luiz Felipe Scolari's side.

The 30-year-old is joined in the squad by fellow defender Zhang as well as midfielders Zheng Zhi, Huang Bowen and Li Xuepeng alongside striker Gao Lin and goalkeeper Zeng Cheng.

Second-placed Jiangsu Suning have had four players selected -- Wu Xi, Ren Hang, Zhang Xiaobin and Gu Chao -- while Shanghai SIPG and Beijing Guoan have three each.

"Congratulations to the players from my team who have been included in the national team's roster," said Shanghai SIPG coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. "If a club can always send players to the national team then it proves the quality of the club.

"It is a very good thing that they can participate in the World Cup qualifiers."

Sun Ke of second division side Tianjin Quangjian has also been included, while midfielder Zhang Yuning of Dutch side Vitesse is the only overseas-based player named in the squad.

China, who have only qualified for the World Cup finals once in the nation's history in 2002, travel to Seoul to take on South Korea in their first match in the third phase of qualifying for Russia 2018 on Sept. 1 before facing Iran in Shenyang five days later.

China preliminary squad:

Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Linpeng, Zheng Zhi, Huang Bowen, Li Xuepeng, Zeng Cheng, Gao Lin (all Guangzhou Evergrande), Wu Lei, Yu Hei, Cai Huikang (all Shanghai SIPG), Hao Junmin, Zhao Mingjian (both Shandong Luneng), Yang Zhi, Yu Dabao, Zhang Xizhe (all Beijing Guoan), Wu Xi, Ren Hang, Zhang Xiaobin, Gu Chao (all Jiangsu Suning), Jiang Zhipeng (Guangzhou R&F), Hu Rentian (Tianjin Teda), Jiang Ning, Ding Haifeng (both Hebei CFFC), Sun Ke (Tianjin Quangjian), Zhang Yuning (Vitesse, NED).

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