Li has called up 33 players, including Espanyol striker Wu Lei, Brazilian-born naturalized forward Elkeson and veteran defender Zhang Linpeng, for the current training camp with the Chinese Super League season on pause.

The team will leave for Doha on Thursday to face Australia in its Group B opener on Sept 2 before meeting Japan－officially the away side－five days later at the same neutral venue.

Switching the matches to the Qatari capital was necessitated by the pandemic-related border controls being implemented in both Australia and China.

"We are facing not just strong opponents on the pitch but also the challenge of potentially staying abroad longer than expected to continue playing our future home games in Qatar," Li said.

"Anyway, we've been braced for whatever sacrifice that we have to make to try to accomplish something big."

China has qualified for the World Cup only once before, in 2002 when Japan and South Korea jointly hosted the marquee FIFA tournament. Li, a formidable midfielder in his prime, started in all three of his country's group losses back then.