The country's top teams have been playing regular warm-up matches lately, and in addition to the national team, the national youth team has been actively preparing for the U23 Asian Cup. Despite successfully advancing in the recent Olympic qualifiers, the national youth team has also set higher demands, otherwise it will be difficult to succeed in the next stage. As a result, the coaching staff of Sung Yeo Tung still needs to work hard to improve their internal skills, especially the tacit understanding between the players. From past experience, Cheng Yaodong's coaching staff prefers to look for gaps and deficiencies through matches. Previously they have traveled to Croatia twice to play in the local second division league, and now they are back home and also plan to interact with teams from the Chinese Super League.
The month of October began with a succession of warm-up matches for the National Olympic Team. The first game against veteran powerhouse Guoan resulted in a 1-2 loss after leading by one goal. Despite the loss, the overall performance of the National Olympic team was still recognized. Two days later, the National Olympic team faced off against another veteran team, the Jinmen Tigers, who were not as strong as Guoan and only ranked eighth in the league, a mid-tier level. In contrast, the national Olympic team gathered domestic U23 outstanding players, upwardly mobile, and has been training together for a long time, each other tacit understanding more tacit understanding. With the advantage in strength, Cheng Yaodong also hopes to return with a victory.
In order to improve the effectiveness of the workout, both sides chose to play three quarters. As the game began, the Jinmen Tigers were no longer content to play the role of a sparring partner, and the two sides fought fiercely in the center of the field. The Jinmen Tigers played a very sophisticated style, adopting a roundabout tactic and not rushing to attack. The National Olympic team attacked aggressively, but was too impulsive, resulting in obvious holes in the back defense. Jinmen Tigers scored one after another, and after three periods of intense competition, Jinmen Tigers beat the National Olympic Team 5-2. The result of this game was unexpected, Jinmen Tigers played a cold game.
Yu Genwei also used the warm up to help the players find their current form. Somewhat similar to the last warm-up, the National Olympic team also added penalty kicks to help the goalkeeper find his feet. 2 matches were played in 3 days, but unfortunately, all of them were lost, and both of them were lost to Chinese Super League teams. It would be understandable if they lost to a strong team like Guoan, but to be scored 5 goals by the Jinmen Tigers is really a bit hard to explain.
The National Olympic Team has lost two consecutive matches, but their warm-up matches continue. The coaching staff of Sung Yiu Tung wants the players to participate in more matches and plans to complete at least 20 matches by April 2024 to gain more experience in the competition and at the same time scout the players to select the best starting lineup.
