Led by Yang Chen, the U17 National Football Team is actively preparing for the U17 Asian Junior Championship in Yuxi, Yunnan Province. In order to better prepare for the Asian Junior Championships, our U17 national football players led by Yang Chen traveled to the United Arab Emirates and Spain to play warm-up matches to practice their technical and tactical levels. More matches were played in small and big matches, specifically targeting teams with strong physical confrontation ability and better technical and tactical skills than ours, to observe our deficiencies. And adjust the lineup for targeted training.
The U17 national soccer team was previously scheduled to travel to Japan on May 21 for a 12-day training session in Japan. Unfortunately, the team did not travel to Japan for training as scheduled. In addition, the plan to play no less than three high-quality warm-up matches in Japan has fallen through. However, this does not prevent the U17 national footballers led by Yang Chen from actively preparing for the Asian Cup in the upcoming period.
Previously, the U17 national soccer team played seven matches in Spain against the local U19 men's soccer team, all of which were very small. It was good to improve the young players. We are doing targeted technical and tactical training. the U17 national soccer team has adapted to playing against strong teams and a strong physical ability to win. This rhythm of the game is over. Although we did not have the opportunity to train in Japan, this does not prevent us from striving for the fewest matches in the world.
In terms of preparing for the U17 Asian Cup, our group was not ideal. Because the opponents are Tajikistan, Australia and Saudi Arabia. It can be said that they are all powerful teams. However, it was pleasing that we played two rounds of warm-up matches against Saudi Arabia in overseas training. Although they both lost, the difference was just one goal. We also got a better understanding of the tactical styles of West Asian teams like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This also helps the coaching staff to better arrange the tactical lineup.
Since 2022, the CFA has improved the domestic U21 and U19 leagues. This has allowed more young domestic players to have the opportunity to participate in quality matches. As well as the expansion of the domestic Chinese Super League, First Division and Second Division. and more active use of young players. This has further contributed to the good direction of young domestic players. More importantly, school soccer is in full swing.
Our main U20 national soccer team from 2003 participated in this year's U20 Asian Cup. In fact, they were the first group of Chinese soccer players who started to vigorously develop the youth training system and school soccer. From them, the population base of good players has grown. This has put Chinese soccer on a good path. This group of U17 national soccer team has a large number of good players to choose from. the improvement of the U19 league is that the Yang Chen legion has a large number of good players to choose from. The Yang Chen Legion is the equivalent of training abroad this year, and its workouts are obviously very good.
Although we are facing strong teams in the AFC Champions League, this does not detract from the fact that the U17 National Soccer Team will be doing their best to earn a place in the World Junior Championships. What's more, our U17 National Football Team collectively traveled to West Asia and Europe for training, and our cohesion and patriotism gives the team an edge in tactical cooperation. Yang Chen's army trained in Yunnan, which is closer to Thailand in terms of preparation conditions and environment. This is also more conducive for us to achieve good results.
