With the U17 Asian Cup igniting passions in the four AFC member association countries on October 1, the following day, the 2006 age group China U17 men's football team departed Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, on the morning of October 2, and drove 190 kilometers to the city of Shepperton, where they officially stayed in the Group G qualifying zone. The tournament schedule shows that the U17 national football team will welcome its first opponent in the group stage, Cambodia, on Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. (local time). Due to the sudden withdrawal of Timor-Leste, the challenge for China U17s to qualify has intensified, and the coaching staff and players are on the lookout for the first match, which is a make-or-break issue.
The 2006 age group U17 national football team (former U16 national football team) departed from Shanghai on the evening of September 6 and flew to Australia. After a short stopover in Sydney, the team took a flight to the Gold Coast in Queensland on the evening of the 7th local time and finally arrived in Brisbane.
From September 7 to October 1, the U17 national football team, under the leadership of head coach Yang Chen, had stretches in Brisbane and Melbourne. This is because Shepperton Sports City, which hosts Group G of the U17 Asian Cup Qualifiers, is in the same state of Victoria as the city of Melbourne, and centralizing the pre- and post-match training in Melbourne will help the team adapt to the local climate and other conditions.
Since arriving in Australia, the U17 national football team has participated in four high-level friendly matches. As the tournament draws near, the team's preparation pace has been adjusted accordingly, with the intensity appropriately reduced. It is reported that a total of 26 players have arrived in Australia with the team, and the coaching staff will determine the final participation list based on the preparation and warm-up situation.
The schedule shows that the U17 national football team will play three matches in five days from October 5th to 9th. Notably, due to the withdrawal of Timor-Leste from Group H, only three teams remain in the group. With the AFC unable to adjust the qualifying groupings, the rules of the promotion competition were forced to be adjusted.
Originally, the 44 registered teams were divided into 10 groups, with the top team in each group and the six second-placed teams with the best results advancing to the next stage of the finals.There were five teams in each of Groups A to D and four teams in each of the remaining six groups. However, after Timor-Leste withdrew from the tournament, only three teams remained in Group H. Therefore, when comparing the second-placed teams in each group, their records against the fourth- and fifth-placed teams in the same group will not be used as a basis for comparison.
For the Chinese U17s, if the team fails to beat host Australia in the first round to top the group, even if they finish second in the group, the U17s' results against the fourth-placed team in the same group will not be counted as the basis for the ranking between the second-placed teams in each group. At the moment, the Northern Marianas are the weakest team in Group G, but if they finish last in the group, it won't matter how many goals the U17s score against them.
Therefore, apart from the hard-fought battle against Australia in the final round, China's U17s will have to go all out for a more favorable advantage against Cambodia in the first round. However, considering the rapid development of Southeast Asian teams on the technical level in recent years, the U17 national football team will first have to secure a win over Cambodia in order to advance. In fact, the U17s are already facing more difficult competition than the 2003-age U20s (formerly the U19s), who previously participated in the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers.
According to the previous competition regulations, China U17 team will play as the home team in the first round. At present, the coaching team has already made use of modern technology to analyze the opponents in the same group in detail, and combined with theoretical guidance, arranged targeted technical and tactical training for the players in the venue. Although the whole team has been preparing for the game in a low-key manner, the whole team is full of confidence in advancing.
It is worth noting that the Chinese women's basketball team successfully won the second place in the new Women's Basketball World Cup in Australia on Oct. 1, and such a good performance undoubtedly brought a positive impact on the U17 national football team lads who are fighting for the ticket to the final round of the U17 Asian Cup in Australia.
