Since entering 2023, Chinese football has fallen into an unprecedented trough.
First Liu Yi, secretary general of the Chinese Football Association, and Chen Yongliang, director of the State Management Department, were taken away for investigation, and then the fall of Chinese Football Association President Chen Jiayuan made the current round of anti-corruption storm in Chinese football reach an unprecedented high, since the former Chinese men's football coach Li Tie was investigated during the World Cup in Qatar last year, as many as 4 heavyweights in Chinese football have been arrested in just 80 days.
Recently, the exchange of news between the wife and lover of Chinese international player Wu Xinghan on the Internet made fans lament in amazement, after 10 years of "false prosperity" in the Chinese Super League, Chinese football does not seem to have changed much from the last "anti-corruption and anti-gang" period.
But it is in this darkest moment of Chinese football that the young U20 national football players have become the light in the darkness.
[First victory over Saudi Arabia in nearly 8 years! ] U20 national football team beats defending champions]
On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2022, the Chinese men's football team lost 1-3 away to Vietnam in the round of 12, and lost to neighboring Vietnam for the first time in history while completely missing the 2022 Qatar World Cup finals.
On that night, Chinese football once again appeared on social media hot search lists for poor performance, and although fans knew before the start of the game that the national football team was almost a foregone conclusion, the loss to Vietnam was uncalming for a long time, and in a way, this defeat meant that the Chinese men's football team was completely reduced to the second or even third tier in Asia.
With the national football team already disappointing, how many people care about the performance of a U20 national team?
In this context, the U20 national football team went to Uzbekistan to usher in the U20 Asian Cup match, and in the previous group draw, the U20 national football team in the same group included the 2016 U20 Asian Cup champion Japan and the 2018 U20 Asian Cup champion Saudi Arabia, which undoubtedly made it more difficult for the U20 national team to qualify.
In the group stage opening match against Japan, although Liu Haofan created a self-propelled own goal by Japanese left-back Hayato Tanaka in the 6th minute of the game, Japanese substitute striker Naoki Kumada scored twice in just four minutes in the second half, which caused the U20 national football team to be reversed.
After that match, there was little hope for the young U20 national team to qualify, after all, the team will face the defending champion Saudi U20 in the second round of the group stage, one of the most outstanding countries in Asian football in recent years, the Saudi U20 national team has won the Arab regional youth football championship in the past two consecutive years.
In the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers last September, the U20 national football team lost 1-0 to Saudi Arabia, and the last time Chinese football teams at all levels beat the West Asian powerhouse was back in 2015.
At that time, the Chinese men's football team, led by Perran, had defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 with Yu Hai's goal in the group stage of the Asian Cup, but Saudi football was in a slump at that time, and in the round of 12 of the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup, the Chinese men's football team only achieved 1 draw and 1 defeat in Saudi Arabia.
In other words, in recent years, there has been a huge gap between the development of both the national youth and the national football team compared to Saudi Arabia, which has led many fans to expect young players before this U20 national football team to challenge the defending champions, just to avoid being out early after two rounds of the group stage like the previous two tournaments.
However, it was in this game that was not expected by the outside world, the young players of the U20 national football team gave the outside world a huge surprise, although in the first 60 minutes of the game, Saudi Arabia always occupied the initiative on the field, but the young players of the U20 national football team have been looking for opportunities to fight back.
In the 66th minute of the game, U20 national football captain Eiffelding sent a cross from a counterattack from the left, Mutalif outflanked and broke the freeze, seven minutes later, Eiffelding attacked again from the left, after dunking the defender and sending a straight block, the following Mutalifu then crossed the goal, and Xu Bin, who was unmarked at the back point, pushed the empty goal.
Although the U20 national team only had 24% possession in the whole game, coach Antonio's defensive counter-attack tactics were very successful, with the U20 national team hitting within the goal range with 5 feet in the case of 8 shots on goal, while Saudi Arabia, which dominated the scene, only completed 6 shots on target.
[Antonio's tactics are a great success, and the young players are trained in the league]
Before leaving for Uzbekistan, almost no one was optimistic about the U20 national football team, after all, Antonio's squad lacked Liu Shao Ziyang and He Xiaoke two players who stayed in the ocean, in addition to Ling Jie, Liu Guobao, Jia Boyan and other well-known young players were also not selected.
Although coach Antonio was once questioned by the outside world in the selection of personnel, perhaps no one knows more about this batch of 2003 hopeful stars than Antonio, since coming to China in 2018, Antonio has been coaching this group of players, in the process of leading the team from U16 to U20, Antonio has always adhered to a set of defensive counterattack tactical play.
Even though Antonio's tactics have been repeatedly questioned by the outside world, the Spanish academic coach still insists that his tactics are the best for this group of players, and now with the U20 national football team playing a wonderful and rapid counterattack against Japan and Saudi Arabia, Antonio's tactical concept has gradually been recognized by the outside world.
Although the Under-20 team has lacked official competition experience for various reasons in the past four years, young players such as Eiffelding and Mutaliff have accumulated valuable experience in the Chinese Super League.
As the captain of the current U20 national team, Eiffelding was loaned to Suzhou Soochow as early as the 2021 season, and handed over 24 games, 2 goals and 7 assists in the Chinese League One, and after returning to Guangzhou last season, Eiffelding was also a side of Wei Shihao, Yan Dinghao and other middle-generation players.
Hu Hetao, who played for Chengdu Rongcheng, made his Chinese Super League debut last season, and in 23 games in all competitions throughout the season, Hu Hetao scored one goal and one assist, which also earned the youngster Antonio's call-up.
As Hu Hetao's club teammate, Mutalifu grew rapidly last season under the guidance of Chengdu Rongcheng head coach Xu Zhengyuan, and in 22 Chinese Super League games for Chengdu Rongcheng, Mutalif scored three goals, in this crucial battle against Saudi Arabia, substitute Mutalif and Eiffelding formed a stunning Xinjiang connection, and the performance of passing Jiangong made the outside world look forward to the young player's future.
[Victory is not arrogant and defeat is not discouraged, Chinese football can be on the right track]
The 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia comes after the Under-20 team has failed to beat Asia's top teams for nine years, with the team's last victory over Asia's top teams back in October 2014.
In the first round of the group stage of the U19 Asian Youth Championship in 2014, the U19 national football team welcomed a strong Japan, in that match, with Wei Shihao's goal, the U19 national youth team won 2-1 against Japan, and it was Takumiya Minamino who later joined Liverpool in the Premier League to score for Japan U19.
After that game, the Japanese media said the words "why don't we have Wei Shihao", and with his performance in that Asian Youth Championship, Wei Shihao was regarded by the Japanese media as a more talented player than Takumi Minamino .
However, in the following eight years, Wei Shihao and Takumiya Minamino embarked on very different paths, and in the round of 12 match between the Chinese men's football team and Japan at the beginning of last year, Wei Shihao and Takumiya Nanno clashed during the match, which is no longer the same opponent as before.
For Chinese football, the U20 youth players played a blockbuster performance without any pressure on the record, but in addition to being at the top of the hot search, there was also overwhelming attention from the outside world.
Although the U20 national football team has let fans see a ray of light in the darkest moment of Chinese football with a victory, for this group of young players who are still in the growth stage, the outside world can put down too much attention and expectations, but can let them grow better without distractions, perhaps today's Eiffelding, Mutaliff, in the future, can become our "Nanye Takumi".