I believe that last night many national soccer fans felt the long-lost joy that soccer brings to everyone. Because in the second round of the group stage of the U20 Asian Cup, our China U20 won and also played an exciting battle of the weak over the strong. China U20's opponent was Saudi Arabia U20, the previous champion. Needless to say, Saudi U20 must be much higher than us, as the last time our national brand beat Saudi Arabia needs to go back to the 2015 Asian Cup, which is almost eight years ago. The national soccer team has fallen more than a star and a half in the last eight years.
And before this match, our U20 lost 1-2 to Japan U20 in the first round, which was extremely passive. On the other hand, Saudi U20 beat Tajikistan U20 by 1-0, and it was easy to play against the national soccer team. That's why everyone favored a Saudi victory and thought China U20 would lose two games in a row. Throughout the first half, that seemed to be the trend. Although the score was 0-0, the national soccer team was passive and didn't have a decent offense. Saudi Arabia had a lot of chances, but they didn't capitalize on them.
In the second half, just when everyone thought that this game would be like the one against Japan, when the national soccer team came back to lose the game and lose the match, one man stood up and changed the ending. That player was 19-year-old striker Efirdin.
First, in the 65th minute of the match, the U20 national soccer team broke the ball in the midfield and passed it to Efirdin on the wing. Efirdin took the ball and forced his way to the edge of the box. After forcing a cut inside on the left side of the box, he passed to the goal mouth with his right foot. Mutalifu, who was in position to parry the incoming ball, easily parried the ball and broke the goal, giving China a 1-0 lead. Efirdin gave him an assist.
Then came the 72nd minute of the match, when Efirdin counter-attacked with the ball and sent a direct pass in front of the penalty area. Mutalifu followed up with a cross and Xu Bin copied it and pushed it into the empty net to make it 2-0 Saudi Arabia for China. This attack started with Efirdin.
Our goal against Japan in the first round of the group stage was also related to him. At that time, China got a corner kick and Efirdin was penalized for it. After the corner kick started, the Japanese player got an equalizer in the confrontation.
It can be said that all three goals of the U20 national soccer team are related to him, and he can really be considered as the striker's thigh of the U20 national soccer team. Another international player that comes to mind when you see the style in which Efirdin plays is Wei Shihao. In the 2014 Asian Youth Championship, China also played against Japan in their first match. As a result, Wei Shihao's penalty kicks and free kicks went straight through to help our National Youth League beat Japan 2-1. At that time, Wei Shihao had this power of obeying no one. Even in crucial matches, in games with a lot of pressure, he could turn himself around without fear.
But then Wei Shihao didn't develop as well as expected, will Efirdin be the same? It's not certain yet, because Efirdin has a trait that Wei Shihao doesn't have, and even most Chinese players haven't had that trait for so many years. That is inexhaustible physical strength and vigor.
You can observe that against Saudi Arabia, Efirdin was the one who ran the most and worked the hardest up front. However, as the game approached the 90th minute, he could still chase back half the break. When he is replaced, he can still run down the pitch quickly. It gives the impression that he was allowed to play for another 20 minutes.
As a striker, we rarely have such physical strength in Chinese soccer. You can think about our previous national soccer team. Why is it that there are always black three minutes or bugs in the first half dragon second half? It's because of the lack of stamina, the body can't keep up, then the consciousness is blurred, and finally the sudden collapse. After entering modern soccer, the pace of international matches is getting faster and faster. In a fast-paced, high-confrontation game, players' stamina is getting more and more exhausted. But the physical reserves of our players have not improved much, so we see that our national soccer team can only play 20 minutes of basic games in the top 12 matches.
As a result, the physical and energetic Efirdin can run all the time and keep his form high. He doesn't have the old problems of old international players. He is the new youth of the new era of Chinese soccer, and this is his characteristic. We also hope that this trait will become the trait of Efirdin's generation of players, who create miracles with constant running.
