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After the Chinese men's football team failed to qualify for the Qatar World Cup, the so-called "big competition" that Chinese football can participate in in 2022 is only the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. As the host, the Chinese U23 national team attaches great importance to this Asian Games. On April 20, Wu Xi, Zhang Linpeng and Zhang Yuning, three overage players, met with the U23 national football team, which was the second time that the Chinese team used overage players in the Asian Games after 16 years.
Beginning with the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the Asian Games set an age limit of U23 players participating in football, while adopting the same mechanism as the Olympic men's football competition, allowing teams to recruit three overage players. In the past 20 years, the Chinese Football Association has basically sent teams of the following Olympic age group to participate in the Asian Games, and only once has used over-aged players, that is, the 2006 Doha Asian Games. On that occasion, the Chinese team was represented by Arthur Junmin, Feng Xiaoting and Zhao Xuri, the age-appropriate players of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and the two overage players recruited by the team's coach Duy were Zheng Zhi and Sun Xiang. In fact, the purpose of this is not difficult to understand, at that time, the Chinese Football Association was to strive for good results in the Beijing Olympic Games two years later, only to recruit overage players in the Doha Asian Games to achieve the effect of running into the team in advance.
In addition to the Doha Asian Games, the Chinese team also sent teams in the 2002, 2010 and 2014 Asian Games that were in the U21 age group at that time to prepare for the Asian qualifiers for the Olympic Games after the Asian Games. The exception was the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, when the Chinese Football Association sent the U23 national football team led by the coaching team of the then national football coach Lippi, who was maddaloni at the time. However, in the past five Asian Games, the results of the Chinese team have not been satisfactory, only in the 2006 Doha Asian Games to break into the quarterfinals, but in the quarter-finals by the Iranian team penalty shootout, the final ranked fifth. In the three Asian Games since then, the Chinese team has failed to enter the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals of the Doha Asian Games, the Iranian team members stopped the ball in front of the goal after passing Wang Dalei, celebrated in advance and then scored the ball, and the Chinese team suffered the shame of the goal line
Today, the Chinese Football Association has once again sent the U23 men's football team to participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the team has recruited overage players again after 16 years, in fact, the starting point is similar to that of the 2006 Asian Games, all in order to achieve good results in the competition at home. The 2006 one was for the Beijing Olympics two years later, but this time the purpose was more direct - at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the Chinese U23 men's football team had to break into at least the top eight to qualify, and on this basis, the team had to launch another impact on better results.
Of course, in view of the current relative shortage of reserve talents in the Chinese men's football team, if you want to achieve good results in the Asian Games, the Chinese U23 men's football team does need the help of overage players. After all, in the previous Dubai Cup Invitational Tournament, the U23 national football team lost two to the UAE U23 national team, two games 0 goals and 4 goals conceded, which has explained the gap between the U23 national football team and the opponent, not to mention the UAE U23 national team, which is not the top team in this age group in Asia.
The U23 national football team recruited Zhang Yuning, Wu Xi and Zhang Linpeng, three adult national team players, into the team, which is equivalent to transferring a central axis from the national football team: among them, Zhang Linpeng can play full-back in the back line, and there is no problem in playing center-back in the U23 level game; Wu Xi can play a tandem role in the midfield, and his possession and overall view are also unmatched among the current U23 players; on the front line, the U23 national football team originally had two centers, Shan Huanhuan and Guo Tianyu, but Shan Huanhuan has been plagued by injuries. Whether Guo Tianyu, who stayed in Portugal, can participate in the Asian Games is still unknown. After all, the Asian Games football matches are not played on international match days, and European clubs have the right not to let players return to their home countries. This time, if Guo Tianyu can gain a firm foothold in Portugal, and if he is on loan at the end of his loan contract in June or officially transfers to Vizzella Club, it is completely understandable that he will not return to China to participate in the Asian Games. In this case, Zhang Yuning has become the best candidate to fill this front-line vacancy.
According to the U23 national football team's plan, the team will participate in the East Asian Cup in July, which is also the most important warm-up match before the Asian Games. It is worth mentioning that due to the epidemic, the 2022 East Asian Cup, which was originally scheduled to be held in China, has been confirmed to be held in Japan. Previously, the Japanese Football Association had prepared to send the Japanese U21 team to China to compete, but with the East Asian Cup being held in Japan, the Japanese Football Association intended to send the "national second team" to participate in the J League players. After all, participating in the East Asian Cup in their home countries, many Japanese internationals do not have to worry about the epidemic prevention and quarantine regulations after returning home, which also facilitates the Japanese coach Mori Hoichi to study the team members to formulate the World Cup participation list. However, it is certain that the Japanese U21 team, which won the championship after defeating Croatia U23 and Saudi U23 in the Dubai Cup not long ago, will definitely participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the ultimate goal of this team is to win a medal at the Paris Olympic Games.
It is foreseeable that when the Chinese U23 national football team with overage players and the Japanese U21 national football team meet in the Asian Games, regardless of the outcome of the game, it will once again cause a big discussion in Chinese football...
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