In the early morning of April 3, Beijing time, the Chinese U23 Olympic team defeated the Qatar Olympic team 2-0 in Doha, thus ending the two consecutive defeats in the previous warm-up matches, achieving the first victory in the Siala practice warm-up, and also ushering in the first victory of the national Olympic team in the international warm-up match since the beginning of the year.
In view of the severe challenge of the U23 Asian Cup, the national Olympic team was placed in Group B, which can be called the "Group of Death", competing with Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. According to the rules, the top three finishers in the U23 Asian Cup will qualify directly for the Paris Olympics, while the fourth place will compete with the fourth place in Africa for the last qualifying spot. This means that the national Olympic team must at least advance to the semi-finals before it has a chance to enter the Olympic Games, which is very difficult.
In order to fully prepare for the U23 Asian Cup, the national Olympic team has gone to West Asia in late March to start a month-long training camp and intensive warm-up matches, and the opponents cover the U23 teams in West Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and other countries.
In late March, after the national Olympic team arrived in West Asia, it first played two warm-up matches with the Saudi U23 team, but the results were not ideal, losing 0-1 in the first game, losing 0-2 again in the second game and suffering two consecutive defeats, both games were clean sheets, conceding 3 goals, and the gap with the opponent is still relatively large. The Olympic team exposed some problems in these two games, such as a lack of concentration in the face of high pressing and quick counterattacks on the defensive end, a single offensive routine, and a lack of ability to seize opportunities.
However, in the third warm-up match against Qatar U23, the national Olympic team learned from the experience of the first two defeats and finally won 2-0, scoring and winning for the first time in this series of warm-up matches. This is also the first time in the three historical meetings between the two teams that the national Olympic team has won, and the national Olympic team has lost to Qatar Olympic team 1-3 and 1-2 in the two U23 Asian Cup in 2016 and 2018.
The national Olympic team has participated in the U23 Asian Cup a total of 4 times (missing this event in 2022), but failed to qualify from the group, with 1 win and 11 losses in 12 games, scoring 10 goals and conceding 21 goals, and the historical record is very unsatisfactory. This time they were placed in the group of death, and fans and the media feared that it would be the result of another round of the group.
However, this year's Olympic team may bring us some surprises. Ma Dexing, a well-known journalist, revealed that after losing to the Saudi U23 team in the first two warm-up games, the national Olympic team began to strengthen physical fitness and technical and tactical training, and the team's ability in all aspects is rapidly improving. Ma Dexing said that the physical advantages of the national Olympic team are relatively prominent, and head coach Cheng Yaodong has paid close attention to physical training as early as in the Xianghe training camp, and this West Asia training camp has put a lot of effort into physical training.
In the second match against Saudi Arabia's U23s, the average distance traveled per person exceeded 11.5 kilometers, setting a record for the highest run of the Olympic team since its establishment. This means that we can compensate for the shortcomings in individual technical ability with better fitness, a more positive attitude and team strengths. This is also the most effective and fastest way to improve the overall strength of the team in the short term. As things stand, the training has worked very well, and the 2-0 win over Qatar Under-23 in the third game of the warm-up game is the best illustration of this.
The Olympic team has two warm-up matches in the future, and the opponents are against Jordan U23 and Uzbekistan U23. This was followed by the U23 Asian Cup main event: Japan U23 on April 16, South Korea U23 on April 19 and UAE U23 on 22. I hope that the national Olympic team can bring more surprises to Chinese fans.