U23
Conquest of Dubai in late April?
According to news from the Iraqi side, the Iraqi Football Association announced yesterday (8th) that it will participate in the "Dubai Cup U23 International Youth Championship" held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in late March. A total of 8 teams will participate in this tournament, including the Chinese 99-year-old U23 national football team. The reporter learned from the Football Association that the Chinese U23 national football team has indeed received an invitation from the UAE Football Association, but can it be done? It is still awaiting approval from a higher management department.
1
The Dubai Cup restarts with 8 teams competing
The Dubai Cup is an international youth invitational tournament launched by the UAE Football Association since 2017, which is held every year in late March using the FIFA designated national team competition window, inviting U23 or U21 teams from various countries and regions to participate. China's 95-year-old U23 national football team participated in the inaugural tournament in 2017 under the leadership of Lippi's assistant De Rosso, and won the runner-up of that tournament. However, in 2020 and 2021, due to the impact of the epidemic, the event was forced to be suspended. This year, the event has been fully restarted.
According to the announcement of the Iraqi Football Association, a total of 8 teams will participate in this year's competition, including Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Vietnam, host Uae and croatia, in addition to Iraq and China. The purpose of the event is clear, which is to provide training opportunities for U23 teams, especially the UAE, before participating in the fifth U23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan in June. Among the eight participating teams participating in this tournament, except for Croatia, which was previously given up by the European team and the Chinese team due to the epidemic and did not qualify for the final stage of the U23 Asian Cup, the other six teams will participate in the final stage of the fifth U23 Asian Cup.
The tournament is scheduled to take place in Dubai from 20 to 28 March. There is no further information on the specific format and schedule, but it is said that the Chinese team will participate in at least three matches if it participates.
2
The 99 age group has not participated in international competitions for two years
For the Chinese 99-year-old U23 national football team, this event is actually of great practical significance. First of all, affected by the epidemic, the Chinese 99 age team has not played an international competition for more than two years, which is very unfavorable to the construction and development of the team itself. More importantly, in September this year, the 99-year-old team will represent China in the Men's Football Tournament of the Hangzhou Asian Games on their doorstep, as the host, in any case, there are performance requirements. However, if you do not arrange a minimum warm-up match before the game and directly participate in the men's football match of the Hangzhou Asian Games, the lesson of the Chinese men's national team playing in the top 12 is in front of you. If the performance of the 99-year-old team as the host is not satisfactory, it may cause more intense shocks.
It is precisely because it does not want such a situation to occur, so the Chinese Football Association has been trying to create international competition opportunities for the 99-year-old team. Now, the UAE is hosting such an event, and other teams participating in this event are training for the Uzbekistan U23 Asian Cup in June, but these teams will basically be the same teams participating in the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. Strive to let the Chinese 99 age group to participate, on the one hand, to train the team, so that the players can find the feeling of international competition, but also to take this opportunity to fully assess the more realistic level and level of China's 99 age group in Asia, because in addition to the West Asian team, the participation in this event also includes Uzbekistan in Central Asia and the Vietnamese team recognized as the fastest improving in Southeast Asia, covering East, West, Central and Southeast Asia, which can make the 99 age team more intuitive.
It can be said that going to the competition is definitely more beneficial than harmful to China's 99-year-old U23 national football team, and it is also of practical significance. But the question now is that the epidemic is like this, the Chinese team goes out to participate in international competitions, not the Chinese Football Association can decide at this level, so although the foreign media report that the Chinese team will participate in the Dubai Cup, can the Chinese team do as desired? The decision is not up to the Chinese Football Association and the U23 national football team. Because of this, the current team is still waiting for the approval of the relevant parties.