In the second round of Group A of the group stage of the 6th U23 Asian Cup and the Asian final stage of the Paris Olympic Football Qualifiers in the early morning of the 19th, Beijing time, the Qatar Olympic team defeated the Jordan Olympic team 2-1 with a goal in the 103rd minute, and became the first team to enter the top 8 with two consecutive wins. The result of this game is not unexpected, but on the issue of how to make good use of the host's advantage, the Qatar Football Association has taught the AFC member associations, including the Chinese Football Association, a lesson.
Is the Qatar Olympic team really so strong? This is indeed questionable. Because before that, they had defeated the Chinese Olympic team 0-2 in the warm-up match. Objectively speaking, the Qatar Olympic team mainly relies on the identity of the host team to occupy the seeding position in Group A, and the Australian Olympic team is the strongest team in the same group. In the first round of the group stage, after the Qatar Olympic team defeated the Indonesian Olympic team 2-0, it has actually laid the psychological foundation for the next win against the weakest Jordanian Olympic team in the same group.
Compared with the Chinese Olympic team in the "group of death", the group draw results of the Qatar Olympic team are of course much more ideal. Their early qualification is reminiscent of the Qatar national team's successful defense of the Asian Cup title more than two months ago. Although the Qatari team at that time had "golden generation" players such as Afif and Ali, this group of elite players has gradually aged after experiencing the 2022 World Cup, and their state and physical condition are not as good as they were in their heyday. They were able to defend their Asian Cup title thanks in large part to the ideal results of the grouping, as well as the smooth trajectory of the knockout rounds. Didn't the Qatar Football Association take advantage of the host's advantage to make a fuss about the group draw? I'm afraid no one will believe such an assertion.
In fact, on the question of how to make the most of home advantage, the Qatar Football Association is not the only one that provides examples. For example, during the last U23 Asian Cup, the host Uzbekistan U23 team was involved in the championship. While the team won the championship mainly due to their own hard power, they also took advantage of home advantage. The Uzbekistan U23 team has an advantage in terms of grouping, training and competition venues, training session arrangements, and home atmosphere.
However, it is regrettable that in the 3rd U23 Asian Cup held in Jiangsu in early 2018, the 1995 Chinese U23 team, which had Zhang Yuning, Wei Shihao, Yang Liyu and Li Shuai, won Oman in the group stage, lost to Uzbekistan and Qatar, thus missing the knockout round. In the end, the two teams of Ukraine and Kazakhstan both entered the top 4, and the Uzbekistan team also won the championship.
At that time, in the group stage match with the Qatar U23 team, the main defender of the Chinese team, He Chao, was also sent off by the Iranian whistle Fagani on duty, which made the Chinese Football Association officials who watched the game feel embarrassed. Obviously, the Chinese U23 team at that time did not gain any home advantage from the start of the group.
It is worth noting that since the start of the 2018 U23 Asian Cup, the Chinese U23 team has been divided into the "Group of Death" for 3 consecutive times. In the group stage of the 4th U23 Asian Cup in Songkhla, Thailand in 2020, the 1997 Chinese Olympic team was in the same group as the South Korean Olympic team, Uzbekistan Olympic team, and Iran Olympic team, and suffered three consecutive defeats. In that competition, the South Korean Olympic team finally won the cup.
For a long time, there has been an undercurrent of various interest groups in Asian football, and they are sparing no effort to make their own profits. Take the Qatar Football Association as an example, after successfully hosting the 2022 Men's World Cup, they took over the 18th Asian Cup and the U23 Asian Cup under critical circumstances. The AFC is of course grateful for this, and in the application of the rules of the tournament, it is natural that it will consciously "take care" of the host, so as to achieve the benefit of the host. This is actually something that other member associations of the AFC should pay attention to and be vigilant against.
The 2001 Chinese Olympic team led by Cheng Yaodong is mediocre, and it is very unfortunate to be in the same group with two strong teams from Japan and South Korea in the preliminary round of this Olympic Games. In the long run, the national brand team will only fall into difficulties repeatedly on the international competition stage, and it will be more difficult to turn over.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Xiao Yun
Editor/Wang Haozhou