China's 2003 U20 national youth team is training in Croatia in preparation for the U20 Asian Cup, which begins in early March. The Chinese team had their second warm-up match and ended up losing 0-2 against the host Croatian national youth team and still lost. Statistically, they have played seven warm-up matches and won only one.
According to the arrangement, China's youth team to prepare for the U20 Asian Cup has two training locations, respectively, Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Zagreb, Croatia, in the United Arab Emirates five warm-up matches, 1 win, 2 draws, 2 losses, and now come to Croatia three warm-up matches, organized by the local soccer association of the four games, the opponents include Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia.
On February 9, in a warm-up match with the Latvian national youth team, the Chinese team avoided a loss by scoring two goals in the second half to level the score at 2-2 after falling behind 0-2. However, the average age of the Chinese team is one year older and can be considered a big hitter.
Now the second warm-up match is against the host Croatian national youth team, which is the strongest team in this four-nation tournament. Like the Croatian national team, the strength is ranked second in Europe and seventh in the latest edition of the world rankings, and the average age is also one year younger than the Chinese national youth.
In order to avoid technical and tactical leaks, China asked the Croatian organizers not to broadcast live video or even release pictures of the matches to the outside world, so the warm-up matches were played in a completely closed state, as was the case for all previous warm-up matches.
According to the official website of the Croatian Football Association, the Chinese team was sent off in the 19th minute of the first half until they scored in extra time to take a 1-0 lead. In the 88th minute of the second half, the Croatian national youth team seized the opportunity to extend the score to 2-0 and eventually beat the Chinese national youth team.
A one-draw, one-loss record in the four-nation tournament in Croatia gave the Chinese national youths an early miss in the championship, with a third warm-up game against the Slovenian national youths to follow.
After beating a strong team like the Croatian national youth, the Chinese national youth was just underpowered, but it was almost passive throughout the game and did not make any progress. According to the U20 Asian Cup grouping, China's opponents include Japan, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan. Aside from a solid win by Kyrgyzstan, the Chinese National Youth will need a miracle to advance to the knockout stage.
The 2023 World Youth Championship will be held in Indonesia. AFC rules state that the top four finishers of the U20 Asian Cup will go straight to the World Youth Championship. After China's youth team advanced to the group stage, they had to win one more game to advance to the quarterfinals.
