At dawn on April 24, the fierce competition in the group stage of the U23 Asian Cup finally came to an end, followed by the list of opponents for the quarterfinals. The highlight of the tournament was the emergence of Southeast Asian teams, while traditional football powerhouses Japan and South Korea unexpectedly faced a challenge to qualify for the Olympics.
In the top half of the group stage, Qatar won the top spot in the group with a solid performance and will face Japan in the next quarter-finals. At the same time, Vietnam showed the potential to reach the semi-finals in their showdown with Iraq and are expected to make history again.
The bottom half of the tournament was equally exciting, with Saudi Arabia defending champions losing the final round to prevent them from topping their group and facing Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals. South Korea will face the tournament's dark horse, Indonesia, who are showing strong competitiveness under the leadership of naturalized player and head coach Shin Tae-ryong.
Winning or losing the Asian Cup is not only about honor, but also about Olympic qualification. According to the rules, the top three finishers will qualify directly for the Paris Olympics, while the fourth place will need to compete for Olympic qualification through an intercontinental play-off.
In another highlight match, China's U16 national junior team suffered a four-goal defeat in a friendly match against Romania's national junior team. The mistake of Zhang Hongfu, the core of the defense, became the focus of the game, causing widespread doubts about the selection criteria of the Football Association. Zhang Hongfu's multiple mistakes on the defensive end, especially in the penalty area, allowed the opponent to score easily, which was reminiscent of a similar mistake by national football star Zhang Linpeng, but it was clear that Zhang Hongfu did not learn his lesson.
The overall defense of the Chinese team was also worrying, and under the fierce attack of the Romanian team, the Chinese team was forced to foul and give the opponent a penalty opportunity. Throughout the game, the Chinese team almost failed to organize an effective defensive counterattack, and could only defend passively.
The new head coach Kenichi Uemura's tactical arrangements and on-the-spot command have also been questioned. In the face of the strong Romanian team, the Chinese team's tactics seemed to fail to play as well as they should, and instead fell into passivity. Fans believe that the Chinese team should adopt a more pragmatic defensive counter-attacking strategy, rather than blindly pursuing possession.
The Romanian Under-16 national team is regarded as the future star of the country's football, and its strength is significantly higher than that of the Chinese team. This defeat exposed the technical and tactical deficiencies of the Chinese national junior team, and Chinese football needs to face up to this failure, learn from it, adjust tactics, improve the ability of players, and prepare for future challenges.
The Football Association also needs to reflect on its own selection and training strategies, and only through continuous improvement and perfection can Chinese football continue to make progress and move towards the goal of becoming a football power.