On the evening of the 3rd, Beijing time, the opening match of the group stage of the U20 Asian Cup was played by China against Japan.
Central defender Liu Haofan's header in the opening six minutes of the game gave China a long lead, but the natural gap in strength between the two sides made the final 1-2 loss not so regrettable.
From head coach Antonio to the players, the U20 national football team has done their best, and as for the gap, it can only be left to time to resolve.
The Chinese team scored first.
I couldn't stand it in the second half
Spanish coach Antonio said before the game that the first game of the group stage would be very difficult for the Chinese team, "The Japanese players have very good individual skills and abilities. I know our group is also very difficult, but that's football. ”
There is a huge gap between Chinese and Japanese football in both the first team and the youth training, and of course, there have been many weak wins in the Qatar World Cup just past, which also shows that if the weak team does its best, it is not completely without a chance - at least in the first 60 minutes of the game.
Under-20 national goal.
The Chinese team took advantage of the corner kick to score the goal, which was scored from the main penalty to the final front point, and it was obvious that there was a practice during training, and set-pieces are also one of the important magic weapons for weak teams to defeat strong teams.
Of course, there is also a tight defense - after the lead, the U20 national team retreated across the board, and even single striker Eiffelding retreated into the 30-meter area of his own defense most of the time.
Japan had only three of its 12 shots on target in the first half, proving that the national youth team defended successfully in the first half. But in the second half, Japan had six of their 13 shots on target – and when the opponent improved their attacking efficiency, it made sense to complete the reversal.
Japan equalised.
In terms of individual technique, overall technique and tactics and body, it should be said that there is a considerable gap between the two teams, and the Chinese team only has 4 shots on goal and two shots on target; The comparison of possession between the two sides is 77% vs 23%...
A somewhat embarrassing phenomenon is that the Japanese team, which has always been based on passing control, actually has a high school forward, and it was Naoki Kumada, who came off the bench, who scored two goals in a short period of time, helping the Japanese team finally turn the game around.
The high school forward tactic also seems to have caught the Chinese team by surprise, and the coaching staff obviously lacks a way to deal with it, which is also what needs to be summarized at the technical and tactical level.
Regarding the contrast between the first and second halves, the head coach of the Japanese team interpreted it this way: "The main thing is that we don't have speed, we don't advance fast enough in attack, and we don't have more straight plugs and forward insertions. The Chinese team has always been retreating, and the center of gravity has been on defense. In the second half, we increased the pace of our attack, so things changed. ”
Naoki Kumada scored twice.
Lack of experience in international competitions
'In the second half, Japan switched to high school strikers and they also showed their speed and used our space.
Antonio was clearly aware of the winner of the game after the game, and he also admitted the lack of experience in the team, "Our team has very few international matches and it is very difficult to arrange. "The game actually reflected that problem.
As for the reason for the reversal of the Chinese team, the head coach of the Japanese team believes that it is the player's personal technical ability and the team's technical and tactical requirements, in short, the Japanese team can always maintain possession.
U20 goalkeeper Li Hao saves the penalty.
"For 85 minutes after conceding the goal, the game was under our control and we kept attacking and scoring goals. Despite being at a disadvantage in the physical confrontation, we achieved the desired results. ”
Of course, in terms of the overall performance, Antonio is satisfied with the team, "Our performance is still quite good. This is the game that Chinese football needs, and it needs to grow in the game, which is also the way Chinese football should go. ”
"In today's game, I think the Chinese team performed quite perfectly, our tactics and counter-attacks were excellent, but we just didn't get the results we wanted."
Head coach Antonio.
There is no requirement to be qualified
Live footage of the match showed that Japan's two goals in the second half were slightly controversial, and the first goal was suspected of being offside; The second goal, the ball rebounded and appeared to touch the arm of the goalscoring player.
After the game, a reporter asked Antonio to comment on the law enforcement referee of the game, and Antonio thought a little helplessly, "I don't like to evaluate the referee very much." All I can say is that we were very unlucky in this game. I know the referees are a bit biased towards them, but we really had no luck today. I don't want to comment on the referee's question. ”
Players leave the game after the game.
The Chinese team was in a group with Japan, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan in this Asian Youth Tournament, and Saudi Arabia defeated Kyrgyzstan 1-0 later on the 3rd, so the next match between China and Saudi Arabia is a battle of life and death. Of course, with the actual situation of China's youth training, the outside world has not put pressure on the team to qualify.
Antonio expects the team to do better, "We will consider the match against Saudi Arabia next. Saudi Arabia is a completely different team from Japan, they are physically stronger. In the next game, we have to be more cautious. ”