In order to prepare for the China, Japan and South Korea Sports Exchange Football Tournament to be held in Wakayama, Japan in late August, the State General Administration of Sports confirmed that a Chinese U18 men's soccer team consisting of elite players in the 2005/2006 age group was formed through the CFA.On the evening of the 23rd, a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily was informed that, before that, the CFA planned to select the former 2006 age group Chinese U17 men's soccer The coaching staff led the U18 team to Japan to participate in the competition. However, Yang Chen, the head coach of the U17 national soccer team, could not continue to lead the team because he needed to stay home to take care of his seriously ill father. The CFA decided to temporarily send Shao, the 15th assistant coach of the national soccer team, to serve as the table.
The 2006 China U17 men's soccer team coached by Yang Chen missed out on advancing to the knockout rounds of the U17 Asian Cup finals in Chonburi, Thailand, last month after an unsatisfactory group stage finish. The whole team returned home on June 23rd. At this time, commissioned by the General Administration of Sport, the CFA formed a U18 national football team consisting of elite players in the 2005/2006 age group in preparation for the China, Japan and South Korea Sports Exchange Football Tournament to be held from August 24 to 28 in Wakayama, Japan.
Considering that the U17 national football team had been organized for more than two years before and had just participated in the U17 Asian Cup, the CFA had initially planned to send the original U17 coaching staff with Yang Chen as the head coach to be in charge of leading the U18 national football team on the trip to Japan. Unfortunately, Yang Chen can't lead the team in a short time because his father is very sick. It was reported that Yang Chen's father was ready to undergo surgery before the start of the U17 Asian Cup finals, but since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety are difficult to combine. Due to Yang Chen's arduous task of leading the team, he was temporarily unable to accompany his father and the date of the surgery was forced to be postponed. It was not until the work of leading the team in the tournament was over that Yang Chen was able to leave to accompany and take care of his father.
In this case, the CFA decided to select Shao Jiayi and Chen Tao, two assistants of the national soccer team, to participate in the leading work of the U18 national soccer team, and appointed Shao Jiayi as the head of the coaching team. Another reason for this arrangement is that the national soccer team will not have training and competition tasks until early September, so it will not affect Shao's work as a leader in the national soccer team. In addition, Chen Tao coached the 2005 Shenzhen football team before this, and has now left the first team coaching position at Shenzhen club, so he can focus on the coaching work of the U18 national soccer team. As for the other members of the coaching team, they are all former coaches of the U17 national soccer team, such as assistant coaches Yang Chen and Wu Ming.
It is understood that the U18 national football team will begin to concentrate on preparation for the match at Beijing Sport University on the 24th. About 25 players are expected to be recruited, with a significant number of former U17 national football players to be selected. However, top scorer Wang Yudong will not be involved in the tournament as he has been signed by Chinese Super League club Zhejiang.
