Reporter Wang Wei reported that recently, the Chinese Football Association announced on its official website that the U21 national team and the U19 national team have assembled in Shanghai to carry out a new phase of training. It is understood that this year and next year, these two national youth teams, must be baptized by Asian competitions, but in the current situation that it is difficult to contact the international warm-up competition, the relevant parties are considering that in order to solve the situation that the two teams have no games to play, let the U21 national team participate in the 2022 season of the Chinese First League, let the U19 national team participate in the 2022 season of the Chinese Second League, and train in the competition.
From March 9 to 27, the Chinese Football Association organized the U21 national team to conduct training in Shanghai. This is the second training camp of the U21 national team in 2022, compared with the previous training in February, the training list of the U21 national team has been reduced from 50 to 30 people, and the head coach of the U21 national team, Cheng Yaodong, will test the team's training effect through multiple warm-up matches in this training camp in March.
The national youth team led by Cheng Yaodong is to prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, so in the preparation process of the team, it is very important to play more official matches. In the past two seasons, Cheng Yaodong has led this team to participate in the Chinese Second League, and has also achieved its goal from the training effect. With the age of this group of players, many players can play in the Chinese Super League or the Chinese First League in their clubs, and their overall ability and physical condition have improved a lot compared with two years ago, but with the approaching of the 2023 Olympic Qualifiers, allowing this group of players to participate in high-level confrontations will help improve the competitive level of the U21 national team.
Therefore, from the perspective of the team's long-term development and actual combat training, this team hopes to participate in a higher level of the Chinese League A, which is not only higher than the overall level of the Chinese Second League, but also has foreign aid to participate in the Team A, which is of great value to the training of the U21 national team, especially the improvement of the ability of the defensive end.
In fact, from the current situation, the U21 national team has not participated in international competitions for two years, and in terms of the current situation, before the start of the Asian qualifiers for the 2023 Paris Olympics, it is difficult for the national youth team led by Cheng Yaodong to have a chance to warm up with foreign teams.
The goal of this team's training in Shanghai in this issue is to train instead of a game, so the team has contacted some Chinese Super League and Chinese First Division teams that are also training in Shanghai, and initially scheduled to play six or seven games. The overall idea of the U21 national team coaching staff is to accumulate experience in the competition for the team through more games.
The training camp for the U21 national team will end on March 27, after which the players will return to their respective club teams to prepare for the league. Judging from the age and ability of these players, in addition to the players of Guangzhou and Hebei may play the main force in the Chinese Super League in the new season, even if there is a U23 policy, it is still difficult for U21 players in other Chinese Super League teams to play an absolute main force in the club team, so it is still a good choice to play in the Chinese First League together in a special period.
Considering all the reasons, the U21 national team led by Cheng Yaodong hopes to participate in the 2022 season of the Chinese League One, but it needs to be comprehensively considered by the Chinese Football Association and the Preparatory Group of the China Football Federation before it can be finally decided.
On March 14, the Chinese Football Association announced the list of coaches and players for the latest training of the U19 national team. This team is headed by foreign coach Antonio, Shao Jiayi as the team leader, the coaching team also has Several foreign teachers such as Freddy, Rafael, Tomo, du Zhenyu as the Chinese assistant coach, Xue Shen as the scientific research coach, in addition, former international Yang Zhi, Huang Bowen, Lu Bofei, Liu Cheng, Sun Ji, Zhang Xinxin joined the coaching staff as trainers.
The U19 national team will face the task of qualifying for the U20 Asian Cup in September this year, with the goal of fully trying to qualify for the final stage next year in Uzbekistan. From the current point of view, the U19 national team is also facing the problem of no official matches to play after forming a team, so after the U21 national team applied to participate in the Chinese First Division, the U19 national team is also very eager to participate in the 2022 season of the Chinese Second Division.
If this U19 national team participates in the 2022 season of the Chinese Second League, it will not only solve the problem that the team has no game to play, but also provide the team with a real knife and gun confrontation opportunity for official matches. At present, the preparatory group of the Chinese Football Federation is studying the schedule and format of the 2022 season of the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division and the Chinese Second Division, and the Preparatory Group of the Chinese Football Federation will consult with the Chinese Football Association and the U19 national team to determine the plan to participate in the Chinese Second Division in the 2022 season.
The training of the U19 national team in Jinshan District, Shanghai will be carried out from March 14 to April 5, and judging from the preparation of this team, the training at this stage is the rhythm of preparing for the Chinese Second League.
From the 2020 to 2021 season, the U21 national team led by Cheng Yaodong participated in the Chinese Second Division for two years, and Cheng Yaodong once said that with the increase in the number of competitions and the increase in the age of the players, the team has gained good training opportunities in the league.
In the 2020 season, this U21 country is still the first time to play in the Chinese Second League, although the number of games is not much, but overall, the whole system of participation in the league has a good effect on the improvement of the level of players. Previously, Cheng Yaodong had his own views on leading the national youth team to participate in the Chinese Second Division, and he believed that the team's systematic participation in professional leagues like the Chinese Second Division was of great help to the growth of the players both from the perspective of actual combat and the growth of the players.
The U21 national team led by Cheng Yaodong will participate in the U23 Asian Cup in 2023, which is also a qualifier for the Paris Olympic Games in France, and the team's goal is to win the right to qualify. In Cheng Yaodong's eyes, if the team wants to improve, it must find a way to improve its actual combat ability, and it is a good way to hone the players through a game with a high level of confrontation.
In addition to the age-appropriate players who can play in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division, the remaining U21 players are organized to participate in the professional league, which is a special method in a special period, especially under the influence of the epidemic, it is difficult for the national youth team to play with foreign high-level teams of the same age through the method of "going out and please come in", and by forming a team to play in the domestic professional league, not only will these two or three years not be wasted, but also with the confrontation with the professional team, the players' understanding and vision of the game will be improved at different levels.
In a previous interview with the media, Cheng Yaodong said that after organizing the national youth team to participate in the professional league, because the opponent is an adult team, the team members are stronger than the young players in all aspects, which makes the national youth players make progress in many aspects in the process of playing small.
Cheng Yaodong attaches great importance to the ability of the national youth team players to read the game, he believes that the adult team members' game experience and reading comprehension ability of the game are more mature than the young players, and the young players will be effectively improved in all aspects of the actual combat process with them. In addition, the official game can also allow young players to be trained and promoted at the psychological level, because in the official game, there may be many uncertain changes in the referee's judgment, audience emotions, etc., and unexpected factors on and off the field can improve the psychological endurance and temporary response ability of young players.
After the dissolution of the U21 national team, the coaching team did not relax the tracking and inspection of the team members, and felt the changes of each team member very deeply. Although the lineup of the national youth team in the 2021 season of the Chinese Second League has changed greatly, some players have participated in the National Games and the Chinese Super League after participating in the Chinese Second League, and the players of the national youth team are very confident in their performance when participating in the National Games football matches of the same age group, and the improvement in this regard has a great relationship with participating in the Chinese Second League.
At the same time, some national youth players also returned to their parent team to participate in the Chinese Super League in December 2021, and judging from the performance of these players in the top league, their training in the Chinese Second League has helped them a lot, whether in terms of experience, ability and physical aspects. Of course, it is not enough to participate in the second division in one or two years, nor can there be rapid progress immediately, so the U21 national team hopes to participate in the Chinese First League, but also considering that the players need to be further consolidated and promoted in the higher professional league after changes in age, technical tactics and physical confrontation.