In the recently concluded Uruguay-Japan
Asian Cup journey, it is easy to see that the two football associations have U21 national team preparation as a priority, that is, the so-called "Paris Olympic strategy" is being steadily implemented. This strategy is not unique in the Asian football world, the Iranian team is the U21 age group players as the main force of the team, although the group failed to get out of the line, but the manager of the motor Vikia emphasized that this tournament is the team's impact on the Olympic Games is a valuable opportunity.
According to tournament rules, non-Olympic-age teams are required to be in
Odd sessions of the Asian Cup are entered. However, due to the importance of the tournament, some member associations still arrange for lower age Olympic age teams to participate. For example, the Japan Football Association (JFA) in the 3rd edition of the 2018
At the Asian Cup, a local Olympic-age team in the U21 age group was fielded. Despite losing to Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals
team, but the JFA believes that such workouts are more valuable to the National Olympic team's preparation.
According to statistics, the 3rd 2018
A total of 366 players participated in the Asian Cup, with the 1995/1996 age group accounting for 57.38% of the total, while the 1999/2000 age group of Olympic-age players accounted for 42.72%. In this year's tournament, the number of players in the 1999/2000 age group dropped to 172, accounting for 46.87% of the total number of participants, while the number of players born on or after January 1, 2001 increased to 195, accounting for 53.13%. Australia and Malaysia have more than half of the players in the U21 age group, while Vietnam and Saudi Arabia are close to half.
While the main rivals have begun to prepare for the Paris Olympics, the preparation of the 2001 age group Chinese National Youth Football Team has been at a standstill for the time being. It is understood that the team finished training in Shanghai on March 27th, and has not been concentrated so far due to the impact of the epidemic. There is no clear news about the preparation plan. China
national soccer team
The association had considered allowing the U21 national Olympic team to play in the Central League, but eventually gave up due to the issue of fair competition in the league.
Uzbekistan
The team's excellent results in the Asian Cup provide strong evidence that the national team is playing in the professional league. The Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF) decided to give full support to the 2001 team in preparation for the Olympics after the 1999 team failed to qualify for the final stage of the Asian Youth Championships. Although the Uzbekistan national Olympic team is currently in the bottom half of the league, long-term participation in a high-level professional league helps to build experience and confidence.
中
national soccer team
The Association is hesitant to arrange for "national teams to play in the league", mainly because of concerns about the impact on fair competition in the league. The main concern was the impact on the fair competition of the league.
The idea of a national soccer team has been floated, but given the poor results of the national men's soccer team in recent years, the Chinese
national soccer team
The Association is concerned about the lack of practical ability of young players and the impact on the country's image.
It is worth mentioning that in the recent U21 national Olympic team training, the players who can get a certain rate of appearance in all levels of professional league only accounted for about 15% of the total training number. In the club can play the main player is even more few. Lack of league practice opportunities, but also can not participate in the national team to concentrate, such a team in the impact of the Olympic Games on the road to competitiveness will undoubtedly be greatly affected.
