A few days ago, the AFC Champions League group stage ushered in the final battle, and the two youth teams of Guangzhou and Shandong Taishan suffered defeats. Looking back at the AFC Champions League trip of the Guangdong and Lu teams, although some players have gained growth, the two teams have both finished out of the group, and such a result is obviously unsatisfactory.
A few days ago, Guangzhou and Shandong Taishan have ushered in the last game of the AFC Champions League group stage of this season, in the end, Guangzhou team lost 0-1 to J League champion Kawasaki Forward, Shandong Taishan lost 0-5 to another Japanese powerhouse Urawa Red Diamonds, the two Chinese Super League teams that were not optimistic before the expedition finally took 12 games, only scored one point, scored 2 goals, and lost 48 goals to end the journey of this AFC Champions League.
Affected by the epidemic, after Changchun Yatai and Shanghai Haigang have withdrawn, only Guangzhou and Shandong Taishan are left in the Chinese Super League to play in this season's AFC Champions League. As with last year, they also sent echelon players who rarely had the opportunity to play. In this field, which represents the highest level of Asian clubs, the two youth teams are not surprisingly creating tragedies. In the first round of the group stage against Malaysian champions Johor Bahru, Guangzhou suffered a five-goal defeat, and the club's decision to expel Guan Haojin, a player who was red from retaliatory fouls, was once on the cusp of public opinion. Affected by the Guan Haojin incident, the guangzhou youth army, which was afraid of its hands in the second round of the group stage, swallowed eight bullets in the first leg of the first leg against the Kawasaki forwards. After six games, Guangzhou not only conceded 24 goals, but also scored only 13 shots on goal, of which only 3 shots were on target, equaling the AFC Champions League record of the least shots set by the team last season. However, from the total 13 goals conceded by Johor Bahru and Kawasaki Forwards in the first leg to only 3 goals in the second leg, it also allowed the outside world to see the progress made by guangzhou's young players.
Shandong Taishan, who has strong youth training strength, also lost seven goals to K League powerhouse Daegu FC in the first round, and lost five goals to the Japanese team Urawa Red Diamonds in the second round, and in the two legs with Japan and South Korea, Shandong Taishan conceded as many as 21 goals. The only consolation was that against the most likely scorer, the Singaporean Lions, Shandong Taishan first drew 0-0 with their opponents, and then scored two goals in back-to-back matches, completing the lowest goal. Of course, after six games, Shandong Taishan also conceded as many as 24 goals, which was equal to guangzhou. It is undeniable that after the experience of the AFC Champions League, the two Chinese Super League youth teams have made some progress, and some players have also gained growth. However, it should also be noted that the poor performance of the two teams conceding an average of 4 goals per game reflects the embarrassing status quo of Chinese football youth training. The overall ability of young players is relatively poor, and there is not much experience in high-level competitions, and as a result, the gap between Chinese football level and Asian teams will only widen.