On the evening of April 16, the Chinese Olympic team started the journey of the 2024 U23 Asian Cup and the Asian Qualifiers for the Paris Olympic Games, and lost 0-1 to the Japanese team in the first round of the group. In this game, the Chinese Olympic team conceded the first goal at the beginning, but soon the Japanese central defender Takaya Nishio was sent off. Although the Chinese Olympic team, which has played one more person for a long time, has relied on the numerical advantage to suppress the Japanese team, it has never been able to equalize. So, what is the gap between the peers of the two national Olympic teams of China and Japan?
In order to prepare for this tournament, the Chinese Olympic team previously played 6 warm-up matches in West Asia, and the result was 3 wins and 3 losses. However, the defeat of the Saudi Olympic team (two encounters) against the first team of the U23 Asian Cup and the Uzbekistan Olympic team still raises concerns about the prospects of the Chinese Olympic team in the group stage, after all, it is in the same group as the Japanese Olympic team, the South Korean Olympic team and the United Arab Emirates Olympic team, which can be called the "sign of death".
Playing an extra man early is hard to score
The substitute goalkeeper came on to play a cameo as a center forward, but he was also unable to return to the sky
After the start of the game, the Japanese Olympic team comprehensively suppressed the Chinese Olympic team, and in the 8th minute, Kaede Yamada crossed from the right to assist Matsuki Jiusheng to score.
It looks like another game of being "hanged". But in the 15th minute, the situation changed abruptly, the Japanese Olympic team central defender Nishio Takaya elbowed the Chinese Olympic team player Jia Feifei without the ball, and the Australian female referee Reibelte watched the video replay under the VAR reminder and directly showed a red card to send Nishio Takaya off.
However, the Chinese Olympic team, which played more and played less, did not improve in attack until the 37th minute, when Tao Qianglong hit the crossbar from a distance, which was also the most threatening attack of the Chinese Olympic team after the opening.
In the 42nd minute, Yang Zihao crossed with his left foot, and Bai Helam's header was saved by Reio Kokubo. It was only towards the end of the first half that the Chinese Olympic team began to find some attacking touch.
After halftime, Cheng Yaodong replaced Xie Wenneng and Du Yuezheng to strengthen the attack. In the 46th minute, Du Yuezheng made a wonderful pass to help Xie Wenneng form a single knife, but unfortunately the latter's shot was saved by the attacking Kokubo Reiyang.
In the end, the Chinese Olympic team replaced the substitute goalkeeper Jin Yong as a cameo center, but he was unable to recover and lost the first group game 0-1.
Most of the Japanese Olympic players are the absolute mainstay of the clubs
Most of China's Olympic players lack the opportunity to play in the league
In the case of playing one more person soon after the opening, the Chinese Olympic team did not save the situation on the field and could not turn the advantage on the field into a victory. This is mainly due to the fact that there is still a big gap between the Chinese Olympic team and its opponents in terms of personal ability and competition experience. Although the Japanese Olympic team is not the strongest squad in their age group, with players of the right age such as Shio Fukuda playing for Borussia Mönchenchen, Zeiss Henry of Stuttgart, Naoki Kumada of Genk, Shunsuke Minohe and Mitsuki Saito of Sparta Rotterdam, Taichi Fukui of Portimão and Ayaki Suzuki of the Japanese national team, the team still has last year's AFC Young Men's Footballer of the Year Matsuki in the squad.
Matsuki Jiusheng celebrates a goal according to Visual China
It is worth mentioning that the starters such as Matsuki Kusei, Yamada Kaede, Hira Yu, Hosoya Shindai, Nishio Takaya, and Takai Yukidai are the absolute main force in the JFL teams this season. In addition, in the starting lineup of the Japanese team, Benfica B team goalkeeper Reio Kokubo, Fortuna Dusseldorf defender Takashi Uchino, two midfielders of Sint-Truiden Yamamoto Rihito and Fujita Jean Rukima also have sufficient playing time in overseas leagues - Kokubo Reio has started 16 times for Benfica B team in the Portuguese League this season, and Fujita Jean Rukima and Yamamoto Rihito are also rotation players or important substitutes for the strong team Sint-Truiden. These players have gained rich practical experience through the training of the league, and their reading of the game is also significantly higher than that of the Chinese Olympic team players.
On the other hand, the Chinese Olympic team, the vast majority of the players in the team lack stable playing time in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League, and only a few players such as Xie Wenneng, Bai Helamu, and Tao Qianglong have played more time in the league in the past two seasons. The team's long-term overseas training camp and the cancellation of the U23 policy by the Chinese professional league last year have caused the league playing time of the Chinese Olympic team to drop significantly, like Eiffelding only had 2 starts in the Chinese Super League last year, and Jia Feifei only played 1 minute in the 2023 Chinese Super League season, and these two have always been the absolute main force in the midfield of the Chinese Olympic team.
The players of the Chinese Olympic team, who lack the opportunity to play in the league, cannot say that they will not fight in tonight's game, but there are often situations where they cannot even complete the basic passing and receiving smoothly, resulting in a simple style of play and few offensive routines. Compared with the Japanese players' sophistication in passing and controlling, the gap between the two sides is indeed very large, and it is only because of the long time that the Chinese Olympic team does not look too ugly on the field, but it cannot rewrite the scoreboard.
The National Olympic team has one more player, but it is difficult to have a substantial threat According to Visual China
At this age of the national Olympic team, it is difficult for our players to get consistent playing time in the league, which has actually shown that the future development of this group of players is relatively limited. In the second half of 2022, it went to Croatia for three months of training, and in 2023, there was another overseas training for more than three months, and this year it went to West Asia for training early. The effect of the previous training has also caused a lot of doubts, at least from the performance of the team has not fully demonstrated the results of the training, and some of the players have returned to the league last year after the state has declined significantly, further affecting the position of their respective clubs, whether this training method will continue in the future on the national teams at all levels, is also a question that needs to be considered.
Red Star News reporter Jiang Shan
Edited by Cheng Li
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