Yang Chen was unable to coach the U18 national football team due to serious illness in his family, and Shao Jiayi temporarily became the head of the coaching staff
In preparation for the upcoming sports exchange event in Wakayama, Japan, Japan, and South Korea in late August, the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China confirmed the formation of a Chinese U18 men's soccer team with elite players from the 2005/2006 age group through the Chinese Football Association. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned on the evening of the 23rd that before that, the Chinese Football Association had planned to send the former 2006 age group of China U17 men's football coaching staff to lead the U18 team to Japan to compete, but U17 national football coach Yang Chen could not continue to lead the team because he needed to stay at home to take care of his seriously ill father. The Chinese Football Association decided to temporarily appoint Shao Jiayi, the current assistant coach of the national football team, as the head of the coaching staff of the U18 national football team, and at the same time arrange Chen Tao, another assistant coach of the current national football team, to join the coaching staff of this team. According to the plan, the team will gather at Beijing Sport University on July 24, and about 25 players will participate in the team.
In the final stage of the U17 Asian Cup in Chonburi, Thailand last month, the 2006 Chinese U17 men's soccer team, led by Yang Chen, failed to advance to the knockout stage in the group stage and returned to China on June 23. At this time, the Chinese Football Association was entrusted by the General Administration of Sports to form a U18 national football team composed of elite players from the 2005/2006 age group to prepare for the upcoming China, Japan and South Korea sports exchange event football event to be held in Wakayama in Japan from August 24 to 28.
Considering that the U17 national football team has been a team for more than 2 years and has just participated in the U17 Asian Cup, the Chinese Football Association initially plans to select Yang Chen's former U17 coaching staff as the head coach to be responsible for the overall leadership of the U18 national football team's trip to Japan. But regrettably, Yang Chen was unable to lead the team in the short term due to his father's serious illness and other reasons. It is reported that before the start of the final stage of the U17 Asian Cup, Yang Chen's father had prepared for surgery, but since ancient times loyalty and filial piety are difficult to have both, because Yang Chen led the team with arduous tasks, temporarily unable to accompany his father, the surgery date was forced to postpone. It was only after the work of leading the team that the event came to an end that Yang Chen was able to withdraw from accompanying and taking care of his father.
Under such circumstances, the Chinese Football Association decided to select Shao Jiayi and Chen Tao, two assistant coaches of the national football team, to participate in the leadership of the U18 national football team, and appointed Shao Jiayi as the head of the coaching staff. Another reason for this arrangement is that the national football team does not have training and competition tasks until early September, so it will not affect Shao Jiayi's work as the manager of the national football team. In addition, Chen Tao previously coached the 2005 age team and has now left the first team coaching position of Shenzhen Club, so he can concentrate on the coaching of the U18 national team. As for the other members of the coaching staff, they are all members of the former U17 national football coaching staff, such as assistant coaches Ma Quan, Wu Mingkun, goalkeeper coach Yang Jun, physical coach Zhang Jie, etc. It should be noted that after the U17 national football team participated in the U17 Asian Cup, the historical mission has ended. Yang Chen and his coaching team members have completed their coaching work with this team under contract.
It is understood that the U18 national football team will start to prepare at Beijing Sport University on the 24th, and it is expected to recruit about 25 players, including Quang Jiwen, a considerable number of former U17 national football players can be selected. However, top scorer Wang Yudong will not be able to participate in this tournament because he was signed by Zhejiang Club of the Chinese Super League.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao