Nandu News reporter Tao Xinlei Chinese football has not achieved such an exciting victory for a long time! On the evening of March 6, Beijing time, the national youth team showed full resilience in the second round of the U20 Asian Cup group stage, using a counterattack to win 2-0 against Saudi Arabia, retaining the opportunity to qualify from the group.
On March 3, Eiffelding was in a match against Japan. Xinhua News Agency
The first round was reversed by Japan after leading by more than 60 minutes, and the young player was deeply regretted but not discouraged. Captain Eiffelding repeatedly mentioned in interviews that he also believed in himself more through the first game.
The national youth team is no stranger to Saudi Arabia, the second opponent in the U20 Asian Cup, as it played Saudi Arabia in the final round of the qualifying group stage last September.
The national youth team started this game the same as the previous game. Image source: The official Weibo of the Chinese football team
In this starting line-up, Antonio the manager of the national youth team put out exactly the same 11 players as in the first round, which is enough to show that he is satisfied with the performance of these players in the last game.
But after the opening, the national youth team felt a lot of defensive pressure. Goalkeeper Li Hao made two mistakes and almost conceded the ball. It wasn't until 35 minutes later in the first half that the national youth team's attack gradually improved.
The two sides finally exchanged white rolls in the first half, and it is worth mentioning that team leader Shao Jiayi received another yellow card. He was also shown a yellow card in the first round. This also reflects how committed and anxious the national football star is when watching the game from the sidelines.
After Yibian, the national youth team was in a more passive stage, and there was a lot of noise in front of the goal. But after 20 minutes of tenacity, the turning point of the game came. In the 65th minute, Eiffelding crossed from the left and substitute Mutalifu snatched a spot to break the deadlock.
Mutalip and his teammates celebrated the goal excitedly. IC picture
Once again, feel the taste of the lead, but this time the national youth will not let the reversal repeat itself. Six minutes later, the national youth team played a quick counterattack, Mu Talipu crossed and Xu Bin tackled to extend the score.
Although the national youth team had only 24% of the ball in the whole game, although the players were physically exerted in a passive situation, and Shilzati Nur was carried off the field on a stretcher due to lack of physical strength in the 76th minute, but in the end, with these two wonderful goals and tenacious defense, the national youth team ushered in a victory and retained the opportunity to qualify from the "death group". The top four teams will advance to this year's World Youth Championship in Indonesia.
"Winning this race is very, very motivating for us and we can win the third game!" Xu Bin, who extended the score for the Chinese team in this match, threw the floor after the game.
At 8 p.m. Beijing time on March 9, the national youth team will welcome the third opponent of the group, Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan lost to Saudi Arabia and Japan in the first two rounds.