After a suffocating nine minutes of stoppage time, the 2001 Chinese Olympic team defeated the UAE Olympic team 2-1 to win the only victory in the final stage of the Paris Olympic preliminaries. The current National Olympic team, which missed the main competition of the Paris Olympics in advance, has ended its historical mission, and the coaching work of Cheng Yaodong's coaching team has officially come to an end.
Although the Chinese Olympic team has lost the results of the Olympic preliminaries for 4 consecutive times, the emotions of the majority of fans have turned from regret and disappointment to despair and numbness, but it has to be said that the 2001 national Olympic team has carried the expectations of Chinese football and fans for a considerable period of time in the past. Compared with the team's dream of Paris, the 2001 age group of local elite players will go where and whether they can grow up healthily in the fertile soil is more worthy of attention from all walks of life.
On the evening of the 22nd local time, at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, a small number of Chinese fans waited in horror until the final whistle of the game blew by Lebanese referee Yahya. After a suffocating nine-minute stoppage time, the Chinese Olympic team narrowly defeated the United Arab Emirates Olympic team 2-1. For this victory, the Chinese Olympic team retreated from defense for almost the entire second half of the game and paid the price of receiving six yellow cards. Although the scene was ugly, it was able to end the journey of this Olympic preliminaries with a victory and end the team's historical mission, both head coach Cheng Yaodong and his disciples were quite gratified.
"The performance of the national Olympic team in this U23 Asian Cup (the final stage of the Paris Olympic preliminaries) is an objective reflection of the current situation of Chinese football. They can't be expected to win and dominate at the same time, and Chinese football and all those who care about it need to accept that reality. This was the sentiment of a team insider after the game. A guest who participated in the live broadcast of the game on a domestic live broadcast platform described the victory of the National Olympic team as a "miserable win".
Behind a series of hot comments is the reality that the strength of the Chinese Olympic team is not good. Some people say that the dream of this national Olympic team is largely due to the fact that they are in the same group as Japan and South Korea, and they are unlucky in actual combat. But in fact, in the face of the talented and experienced Japanese and South Korean teams in various competitions, the Chinese Olympic team could not score at all, and naturally could not achieve the victory needed to qualify. Comparing the fact that the UAE Olympic team scored two goals in the final round of the group stage, it is not difficult to find that the two teams of China and Argentina are far from each other in terms of comprehensive strength with Japan and South Korea.
When summarizing the reasons for the repeated defeats of the previous National Olympic teams, including some members of the current coaching team of the Chinese Olympic team, many industry insiders invariably mentioned the concept of "talent production line".
One coach commented: "We may be accustomed to attributing the failure of a national team at a certain stage or a major tournament to simply due to poor skills or poor player ability. However, we should deeply analyze the essential reasons for the poor strength or skill of the players. For example, when we start the selection of players for a particular Olympic Games, they may be 15 or 16 years old, and their real initiation stage should be between 6 and 12 years old. Players aged 16 or older have developed a certain stereotype in terms of playing habits and awareness. In other words, the talent we select may have stagnated in some capacity-building, and there is limited room for improvement. Therefore, we pay attention to the cultivation of talents, and we should pay more attention to the cultivation of players in the enlightenment stage. Let them develop good football habits in a scientific way, and then divide them into different stages to improve their technical level and ability to read the game, strengthen their physical condition, and enrich their game experience. ”
The two national Olympic teams of Japan and South Korea have benefited from a scientific and systematic talent training mechanism. Take the Japanese and South Korean teams participating in the final stage of this Olympic preliminary round as examples, they each have a number of talented players with potential. Before participating in this event, they already have a lot of experience in various competitions. For example, Japanese player Matsuki Jiusheng, who scored the winning goal of the Chinese Olympic team in the first round of the group stage, has participated in a total of 61 Japanese J1 League games and 6 cup games. Earlier, as a young player, he also participated in the last 5th U23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan, making five appearances and scoring two goals. During last year's Under-20 Asian Cup, he made five appearances, scoring two goals and providing two assists. In the subsequent Under-20 World Cup, he made three appearances, scored one goal and provided one assist. Another important player in the attacking line of the Japanese Olympic team, Shindai Hosoya, has previously represented the Japanese national team in the 2022 East Asian Cup and Asian Cup. Its Japan J1 League has played a whopping 104 games. Because of this, the Japanese Olympic team was able to qualify even without the help of age-appropriate stars such as Kenei Kubo.
In the other match of Group B, which kicked off at the same time on the 22nd, the South Korean Olympic team defeated the Japanese Olympic team 1-0, thus winning the group first with three consecutive wins. It is understood that although as many as 8 elite players of South Korea's Olympic age, including star Lee Gang-in, failed to go to Doha with the team, head coach Hwang Sun-hong is still confident that he can lead the team to the main match of the Paris Olympics and even win the championship in the preliminary round of this Olympic Games. What gives him confidence is, of course, the team's excellent strength. It is understood that at last year's U20 World Youth Championships, the 2003 South Korean national youth team advanced to the top 4. Lee Yong-jun, who made seven appearances and scored two goals in the tournament, is the current top scorer of the South Korean Olympic team. In the match with the Chinese Olympic team, Li Yongjun scored twice, showing the style of a high-energy goalscorer.
It is worth noting that the main players of the Korean Olympic team such as Lee Yong-jun, Kim Jae-hoon (goalkeeper) and Yim Ji-sung have been able to get consistent playing time at the club. For example, Lee Yongjun, who was born in 2003, has made a total of 44 appearances in the K1 and K2 leagues in South Korea, and has also made 4 cup appearances. Yan Zhicheng's K-League appearance record is as many as 97 games. In addition, the South Korean Olympic team also has overseas club players such as Jung Sang-bin and Kim Min-woo.
In contrast, the number and quality of players participating in the Chinese Olympic team are significantly inferior to those of Japanese and South Korean players of the same age. Among the 11 players of the Chinese Olympic team who started in the final match of the Olympic preliminaries on the 22nd, Liang Shaowen, a central defender from the Guoan Club, and Ruan Qilong, a right-back, have not played for the club team in the Chinese Super League this season. Among the remaining nine starters, the one with the most league appearances this season is the attacker from Shandong Taishan Club, Xie Wenneng, who scored the first goal of the Chinese Olympic team in this tournament. He has played in four Super League games this season, three of which have been starts. He also played for the club in the two legs of the AFC Champions League knockout round quarter-finals. The second-most capped professional league player this season is captain Tao Qianglong, who has made three appearances for Wuhan Three Towns in the Chinese Super League, starting just one. The rest of the players have mostly made two or one league appearances this season.
After the game between China and South Korea, whether it was the defender Jia Feifei or the central defender Jin Shunkai, they all sighed in unison: "The league appearance rate of Korean and Japanese players is as little as dozens of games, and more than hundreds of games, while we only have a few appearances in the league, and this gap cannot be made up in a short time." ”
It is worth noting that Lee Yong-joon, as a player in the U21 age group, was able to ensure a stable appearance rate in the K-League, largely thanks to the "U22 local player playing policy" launched by the Korean Football Association and its professional football management department. The rule makes it clear that a K-League team will be given five substitutions if two U22-year-old Korean players are on the pitch per game, and three substitutions will be reduced to three if the team has only one Under-22 player on the pitch. By joining Shangwu Football Club, Lee Yong-jun can implement the issue of military service on the one hand. On the other hand, it can also ensure a sufficient appearance rate. This is good for him personally and for the Korean national team.
In the last two seasons, the Chinese Professional Football League has suspended the U23 local player policy, and the Chinese Super League has implemented the "5 foreign aid" policy since this season. Under such circumstances, the employment space for local players, especially young players, will inevitably be compressed. The 2001 Olympic-age players, who were already facing a competitive crisis at clubs, are likely to find themselves in an even more difficult situation.
Prior to this, the new Croatian coach of the Chinese men's football team, Ivankovic, had made a special trip to Doha to watch the matches between the Chinese Olympic team and the Japanese and South Korean teams, hoping to tap potential players of the national Olympic age and supplement them to the national team. However, in any case, players need a consistent game appearance rate to maintain their form and show their level, otherwise "providing a useful supplement for the national team" can only remain in the imagination. After the Chinese Olympic team lost the Paris Olympic preliminaries, the future of this group of Olympic age players needs to be considered by the Chinese Football Association, clubs and all parties.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun