Recently, the national team has been playing frequently, but the record is general, just finished the Asian Games, the national team as the host, only entered the eight, the lack of strength is obvious, also caused the outside world to discuss how to effectively improve the strength, obviously, the root is not the national soccer team, or from the grassroots level, especially grassroots soccer, which is the basis of the selection, because of this, the U15 international soccer invitational tournament attracted more attention, because not the U15 national soccer team, but a private selection of U15 teams: soccer youth. After several years of hard work, this team has many talented 15-year-old players, Kuang Zhaolian being one of the representatives.
Initially, the focus was thought to be on participation, but the soccer players delivered an amazing performance. The tournament was played in a 70-minute format with a 15-minute first half, starting with the group stage, first winning 3-2 against Borussia Dortmund, then drawing 2-2 against Hanoi, 0-0 against Brisbane Lions, and finally exploding into cold with a 1-goal win over South America's No. 1 giants, River Plate, and advancing to the quarterfinals.The semifinals saw the footballers play against another European team, Feyenoord, and competing tenaciously against their opponents in the absence of a superiority in strength to knock out their rivals 4-2 , advancing to the final. According to the schedule, the final on October 9 will be against Argentine powerhouse River Plate, who eliminated Red Star Belgrade in the semifinals.
With an average age of one year older than Soccer Young Players and four young Argentinean 08-age national starters, River Plate is arguably the number one team to win the title. Although the strength is not superior, but soccer young players are not without chances, after all, they won in the group stage. For the final debut, both sides sent their strongest lineups.
In the opening half, River Plate dominated the midfield with more than 70% of the ball in possession, constantly pressuring the two hinterlands of the Soccer Boys' penalty area. In the 18th minute, Riverbed hoisted the ball into the penalty area and Soccer Boys made a mistake in clearing the ball, which didn't fly too far. Riverbed won the ball, dipped the ball into the penalty area, and vigorously slotted the ball in to take a one-goal lead.
The trailing soccer players fought back, but hardly posed a threat to the River Plate goal. The half ended with only one throw-in, still trailing 0-1. At the changeover, the lineups remained the same and River Plate continued to control the tempo. With the passage of time, the soccer players' fitness declined and the offense was insufficient. River Plate scored a penalty kick in the 69th minute to seal the deal. The soccer players lost hope of an equalizer and eventually had to swallow their first loss and miss out on the championship. River Plate won the championship as expected. It was a result beyond expectation for the soccer players to finish second in front of many strong teams, and their performance won recognition from the outside world.
