For the current Chinese team participating in the U23 Asian Cup, it is not easy to win a game, after defeating the UAE team, the Chinese team ended all the games with a record of 3 games, 1 win and 2 losses, and the third place in the group made them miss the Olympic Games. In the first two games, facing the strong Japanese team and South Korea, the Chinese team lost to the opponent with a score of 0-1 and 0-2 respectively, scoring 2 goals and conceding 4 goals in 3 games, which can also reflect the current true level of this team.
From the group before the start of the game, the Chinese team is not favored, and is divided into the group of the two strongest teams in Asia, Japan and South Korea, plus the United Arab Emirates, which is undoubtedly a "group of death" for the Chinese team. It is precisely because of this grouping situation that most fans do not have much expectation for the results of the Chinese team, they just hope that they can play at a level and play with spirit, but in the end, when the games were lost one after another, many fans still expressed their dissatisfaction with the Chinese team.
Japan and South Korea are currently the best teams in Asia, and their players participating in the U23 Asian Cup are not their strongest squads, and many players in Europe are not involved, so this kind of competition is no longer enough for them to give up the European league and come back to play, with their current squad is enough to deal with most opponents. On the other hand, the Chinese team, the U23 squad is already the strongest player in this age group, but there is still a huge gap compared with the players of the Japanese team and the South Korean team, and there are even many players who have not landed in the Chinese Super League.
In the game against the United Arab Emirates, in the face of the opponent who also lost all two games in the group stage, the Chinese team's performance was still remarkable, and the game was able to win the opponent, relying on the active scrambling of the midfield, causing the opponent's mistakes and seizing the opportunity to score. It's just that this kind of tactical play can't appear in the Chinese team's game lineup for a long time, and when facing stronger opponents, relying only on active scrambling will not only consume physical strength, but also can't put pressure on the opponent, and also increase their own room for mistakes, which is also one of the dilemmas that the Chinese team is currently facing.
Since taking over the national Olympic team in 2019, head coach Cheng Yaodong has led the Chinese team for five years, including nearly 800 days of training and participating in various competitions, which also means that the players train in a closed environment most of the time. Long-term closed training camp is not a good choice for players, but it is already a helpless choice at this stage, many players are unable to play in official professional games, and can only increase their game experience through training camps.