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On March 26, Beijing time, China's U23 national team defeated the Thai U23 national team 4-2 in the second round of the Dubai Cup Invitational Tournament. This victory is also the first victory won by the Chinese men's national football team in the international arena since 2022.
Entering 2022, Chinese football has further fallen into a trough. In addition to the Chinese women's football team in the women's Asian Cup after 16 years to win the championship, so that the national fans are inspired, the performance of the Chinese men's football team has been in a slump. In the round of 12, the Chinese team first lost 0-2 away to Japan on January 27. Then on February 1, the first day of the Lunar New Year, he lost 1-3 to Vietnam, completely losing hope of qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar. This humiliating defeat has also caused the Chinese men's football team to fall into the whirlpool of public opinion again. Shortly thereafter, the "Feng Gong controversy" between bystanders and professionals in Chinese football once again pushed the Chinese men's football team to the cusp of the storm.
In the midst of a controversy, the Chinese national team and the U23 national football team set off for the United Arab Emirates on March 17. The Chinese team will play Saudi Arabia and Oman in the last two matches of the round of 12, and the U23 national football team will participate in the first international event after more than two years of team formation - dubai cup invitational. After arriving in the UAE, the U23 national football team first lost 0-1 to the host UAE team in the Dubai Cup. A day later, China drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia in the round of 12. At this point, entering 2022, the Chinese men's national team has drawn 1 and lost 3 in four games, and it is difficult to win a victory. However, whether it is the adult men's national football team or the U23 national football team, the Chinese men's football team has shown a good mental outlook in the recent competition in the context of controversy. In the end, the U23 national football team won the first victory of the Chinese men's football team in 2022.
In the match against the Thai U23 national team, the U23 national football team carried out an active high-pressure pressing on the field, which made the Thai team, which was accustomed to ground cooperation, very uncomfortable in the game, and made a big mistake. Fang Hao first broke the ball in the 8th minute by aggressively pressing on the left side, and then went into the box to score the ball.
Although the opponent equalized the score with a world wave after 3 minutes, the U23 national football team did not mess up the square inch, but still made the opponent make a mistake again through the tight pressure on the right side, passing the ball directly to Fang Hao in the penalty area, who laughed and accepted the gift and exceeded the score again.
As for the goal that allowed Fang Hao to complete the "hat trick", it was the Chinese team that used its physical advantage to form a chaotic battle in the opponent's penalty area through set-pieces, allowing Fang Hao to grab the point successfully.
In the second half of the game, the Chinese team continued to put pressure on the opponent in the midfield despite the opponent's large-scale attack and rush to score. It was the Chinese team that exerted pressure in the front court, allowing Fang Hao to use his physical advantages to burst into the penalty area and finally complete the "big four joys". Fang Hao achieved the "Big Four Joy", first of all thanks to his ability to grab points, shoot in front of goal and physical fitness, but also thanks to the efforts of the whole team. The U23 national football team showed a good attitude to the game in the whole game. At the same time, the physical strength that head coach Jankovic has been strengthening has also given great support to this attitude of the game.
In terms of technology and tactics, perhaps the formation and tactics of the U23 national football team are also the trend of the national team in the future. That is, active scrambling plus defensive counterattacks. At present, China's national teams are at most second-rate in Asia, and they will face more and more teams with stronger strength than themselves in the future. The defensive counterattack style of stabilizing the defense and looking for opportunities should become the mainstream playing style of the Chinese team.
In addition, the U23 national football team should also continue to become the "reserve team" of the adult national team. Some young people who have performed well in the U23 national football team deserve more opportunities to show themselves in the adult national team. In this way, more Zhu Chenjie and Guo Tianyu can appear. For example, Fang Hao, who scored four goals alone in this game, has always been a regular visitor to the national team. From 2013 to 2015, Fang Hao was selected for the Chinese Junior Team for three consecutive years. In 2017, he was selected for the Chinese National Youth Team. In October of that year, Fang Hao, under the arrangement of Shandong Taishan Club, went to the Brazilian Sports Center for integration training, trained with the Brazilian DB U20 echelon, and participated in the 2019 São Paulo Youth Cup with the team. During his time with the Brazilian DB team, Fang Hao also went to belgium for a trial training for the standard Liege team. In 2020, Fang Hao returned to the Shandong Taishan team after staying in Yang. In the same year, Shandong Taishan loaned Fang Hao to the Inner Mongolia Zhongyou team in the Chinese League One. In that season, Fang Hao made 12 appearances and scored 2 goals.
In the 2021 season, Li Xiaopeng, who was the coach of Wuhan at the time, loaned Fang Hao from his old club Shandong Taishan to Wuhan. It is also under the tutelage of Li Xiaopeng that Fang Hao got more exercise opportunities in the Chinese Super League. He made 18 appearances last season, delivered an assist in the Chinese Super League and scored a goal in the FA Cup. This also allowed Fang Hao to be selected for the U23 national football team. If Fang Hao can continue to maintain such a good state, perhaps he will be the "next Guo Tianyu".
Although the first win of the Chinese men's football team in 2022 came a little late, although the opponents won were not strong, the Chinese men's football team, especially the young players, still make every little progress they make, which can still make people who really care about them feel happy. After just experiencing a huge controversy, it is expected that the Chinese men's football team can be ashamed and brave and start again.