On March 3, Beijing time, in the group stage of the U20 Men's Asian Cup, the Chinese team suffered a reversal in the opening lead, and finally lost 1-2, temporarily ranking at the bottom of 0 points. Such a defeat brought the Chinese team close to missing the World Youth Championship. It can even be said that the Chinese team is once again bidding farewell to the international arena.
The Chinese team made a dream start. In the opening 6th minute, Eiffelding took a corner kick and central defender Liu Haofan scored with a header. Unfortunately, Japan, who had the advantage, equalized in the 67th minute when Naoki Kumada scored with a header. After conceding a goal, the spirit of the U20 national football team instantly went down, and the defense began to make mistakes. In the 70th minute, Naoki Kumada scored a 2-1 defeat after a side hook shot from inside the penalty area.
In this competition, the Chinese team was in the same group as Japan, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan in the group stage. The Chinese youth team participated in the World Youth Championships five times in 1983, 1985, 1997, 2001 and 2005, and won the Asian Youth Championship once in 1985, but since the "Super Platinum Generation" last shined in the World Youth Championships in 2005, the Chinese men's football team has been insulated from the World Youth Championships. Of course, let alone insulate the World Youth Championships, the Chinese team now has difficulty even qualifying from the Asian Youth Championship group. In the past four tournaments, the Chinese team stopped the group stage three times.
After losing to Japan in this match, the opponents of the Chinese team in the group stage are Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan, and it can be said that the Chinese team has no chance. Because the performance of the Japanese team in the Asian Youth Championship is not as good as Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia is the champion of the last competition and the favorite to win this competition. It is no exaggeration to say that the Chinese team has little chance of facing Saudi Arabia, and the lack of points against the Japanese team means that the Chinese team does not want to think about the World Youth Championship.
After 18 years away from the World Youth Championships, how long will the Chinese team have to keep fans waiting? Not to mention the World Youth Championships, now the World Cup, Olympic Games, World Junior Championships and other international events, where is the figure of the Chinese men's football team? A sigh! All in all, Chinese football should still sink down and train well, failure is the mother of success, boys do not be discouraged.