In the past two days, Chinese soccer has been refreshed by a piece of news. Chen Xuyuan, the president of CFA, was taken away to be investigated for allegedly violating the law, and the "sky" of Chinese soccer seems to be bright at last. At the same time, China U20 men's soccer team continued to prepare for the game in Croatia. Not long ago, they played the third match of European training with Slovenia U20 team, but the result is still not optimistic.
In preparation for the U20 Asian Cup, which starts in March, the China U20 Men's Football Team started to gather during the Chinese New Year and had a new round of training. After the UAE tour, China U20 Men's Football Team flew to Croatia to compete against stronger opponents. Prior to that, China had already played two matches against Latvia U20 and Croatia U20, with a record of one draw and one loss. Against Slovenia U20, the final match of the European tour, the team hoped to earn a win and draw a happy ending to their European training.
Similar to their last game against Croatia, China remained defensive against Slovenia and had to rely on counterattacks on the offensive end to create some threats. In the first half, China's defense was relatively tightly organized, and for the only time in the last three matches, they did not concede a goal as the two teams returned to the locker room at 0-0. Battling again at the changeover, China U20's defense continued to be left out of the game as their stamina dwindled. In the 70th minute, Slovenia took the lead through striker Krupic to take a 1-0 lead. After that, although China tried to launch a counterattack, the national soccer team's offense did not work due to the obvious strength gap between the two sides. In the end, China lost 0-1, losing again after a 0-2 loss in their previous match.
After the match, the warm-up tour for China's U20 men's soccer team will also come to an end. Next, the players will have some time off before traveling en masse to Uzbekistan for the U20 Asian Cup. Looking back at the China U20 Men's soccer team's warm-up tour across Asia and Europe, they played eight matches, and except for a 1-0 win over Syria U20, the rest of the seven matches were either uneventful or unsatisfactory, and the performances could only be unsatisfactory.
For the slump of China's U20 men's soccer team, many fans believe that Chen Xuyuan, the president of the soccer association, should be held fully responsible for it. During his tenure as president of the Football Association, Chen Xuyuan was responsible for the men's national soccer team at all levels. Coach Antonio also took over the coaching of the U20 men's soccer team with his support. Now that Chen Xuyuan is being investigated for violating the law, U20 men's soccer is bound to be affected to some extent. Coupled with the fact that the scandal in the Chinese Football Association has attracted the attention of the world's soccer community, China's U20 players will also face a certain amount of pressure from public opinion, which will also cast a shadow over the prospects of their matches.
Hopefully, China's U20 men's soccer team can create a miracle, and Chinese soccer in the doldrums needs to see some hope!
