On April 22, 2024, Beijing time, in the third round of the group stage of the U23 Asian Cup, U23 China defeated the U23 United Arab Emirates 2-1. After this battle, although the national Olympic team won the competition, it only ranked third in the group, so it missed the main event of the Paris Olympics. After these three games, the outside world has a certain understanding of the U23 national football team, and at the same time sees their advantages and disadvantages. It is worth mentioning that most of the players in this year's Under-23 squad will succeed the senior national team, but their technical level is particularly worrying. If we continue at this pace, it will be very difficult to win against Indonesia in the future.
In the 24th minute of the game, the U23 national football team took a corner kick, the UAE players failed to clear the dangerous area, Xie Wenneng decisively hit the goal, helping the Chinese team take the lead in the 39th minute of the game, Baihelam shot, the UAE player handball in the penalty area, and then the referee canceled the penalty through VAR replay. In the 50th minute, the UAE players made a mistake in the backfield, Liu Zhurun successfully grabbed the ball, and then successfully scored. Just one minute into the second half, the UAE scored one goal with ease. In the end, the Olympic team defeated the UAE 2-1.
Although the national Olympic team won the game, the team exposed a bunch of problems. Since the game against Japan, the U23 national football team has always had the Achilles' heel of poor basic skills and lack of concentration in defense.
Even in the National Olympic team, excellent players such as Tao Qianglong, Eiffelding, Bai Helamu, and Xie Wenneng who can play in the Chinese Super League will have problems such as stopping the ball and flying 5 meters out of the ball, and passing the ball is not in place. Such mistakes often occur on the pitch, and on several occasions our quick counter-attacks were forced to end due to the lack of basic skills of the players.
In addition, the U23 national football team also performed the same in terms of shooting and defense. Against South Korea, the Olympic team had 5 very good shots on goal, including excellent chances for solo goals, but Tao Qianglong, Xie Wenneng and Bai Helamu all missed the goal.
What's even more worrying is that these three are good attacking players, and they can still find opportunities to shoot, and some players can't even create a chance to shoot. On the other hand, most players are prone to mistakes when defending, such as missing people and not predicting where the ball will land.
It can be seen that the basic skills of this group of Under-23 players are particularly bad, and there are also a lot of problems in shooting and defense. In terms of the national team, Wu Lei, Aikeson, Wu Xi, Zhang Linpeng, etc. are all over 30 years old, and these U23 players should become the successors of the national football team, but their competitive level is even inferior to Zhang Linpeng and Wu Lei. Because of this, the future prospects of the national football team are very worrying. In this U23 Asian Cup, Indonesia won 2 and lost 1: 4-1 Jordan, 1-0 Australia, 0-2 Qatar. If you let the national Olympic team play against Indonesia, you may not be able to win against them. After a few years, the U23 players enter the national team, then the national Olympic team may really not be able to beat Indonesia!