On March 20, at 9:45 p.m., our U23 national team played a warm-up match against UAE club Wahda at the Nasiryan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in what marked the team's first international match since two and a half years ago. The two sides ended up shaking hands in a 1-1 draw. Martins opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the 15th minute, while in the 60th minute, Fang Hao's shot hit the post but Chen Guoxi's follow-up shot managed to equalize the score.
On the 15th of this month, the U23 national football team suffered its first warm-up match defeat in the training held in Haikou, losing 0-2 to the opponent. In the early morning of March 18th, the U23s arrived in Sharjah, UAE, to prepare for the Dubai Cup International Football Championship, which will start on the 23rd. In preparation for the Dubai Cup, the U23s first played a warm-up match against Wahdah. For this trip to the UAE, manager Jankovic led 24 players, including Wu Shaocong, Han Jiaqi and Jiang Shenglong, who were transferred from the national football team to help, and Zhang Jiansheng, who was called up on an emergency basis, while Shan Huanhuan and Su Shihao were not in the final list due to injuries.
As of now, the UAE league has played 19 rounds, and Wahda is in second place with a difference of 7 points, following the leader Al Ain. In this match, Wahda had as many as six players called up by the UAE national team, including Syrian international Hribin, but with Brazilian foreigner Pedro and Portuguese foreigners Martins and Canedo all starting in the match, Wahda fielded its strongest lineup. Compared with the U23 national football team's warm-up matches, the U23 national football team made four changes to its starting lineup, with Jiang Shenglong, Ye Lijiang, Chen Guoxi, and He Yupeng replacing Huang Jiahui, Xu Haofeng, Sun Qinhan, and Mou Xuchen.
[Highlights]
In the 15th minute, Wahdah made a powerful breakthrough in front of the striker and the U23s center back was fouled, Wahdah was awarded a penalty kick and Martins hit the ball with the knife, leaving the U23s 0-1 down!
Shortly after the goal was conceded, Tao Qianglong's shot failed to hit the goal accurately.
In the 39th minute, the U23s created a threat to the Wahda goal with several consecutive shots.
In the 45th minute, Tao Qianglong shot off target again after the U23s crossed from the right.
In the 47th minute, the U23 national football team passed, Fang Hao cleverly let go, and substitute Liu Zhurun shot over the goal unguarded.
In the 60th minute, Fang Hao continuously broke through three people's defense on the left road and shot the ball in the penalty area, the ball hit the post and bounced out, Chen Guoxi quickly followed up with a supplemental shot to break the goal, and the U23 national football team chased down the score to a 1-1 tie!
In the 78th minute, the U23 national football team created a succession of good opportunities to shoot, but Missy Xuchen failed to seize the opportunity.
Just before the end, the U23s broke through on the right and passed to substitute Cai Mingmin, whose shot from the middle of the field was magically parried off the line by the Vahda goalkeeper.
In the end, the U23s drew 1-1 with Wahda.
According to the schedule, the U23s will face UAE U23 in the first match of the Dubai Cup on March 23 at 20:00 p.m. On March 26 at 24:00 p.m., the U23s will face Thailand U23 in the second round. on March 29, the U23s will take part in the ranking tournament.
[U23 National Football Team]
Starting XI (4231): 1-Han Jiaqi; 16-Wen Jiabao (80'28-Zhang Jiansheng), 5-Wu Shaochong, 6-Jiang Shenglong, 3-Ye Lijiang (62'17-Xu Haofeng); 15-Diliyimiti (82'2-Wang Xianjun), 13-Xu Yue (62 '8-Cai Mingmin); 14-Chen Guoxi (62'11-Sun Qinhan), 7-Tao Qianglong (46'22-Liu Zhurun), 21-He Yupeng (62'30-Abdul Meisuli); 20-Fang Hao (62'18-Mu Xufeng). '18-Mao Xuchen);
Unattached substitutes: 12-Peng Peng, 19-Huang Jiahui, 26-Chen Artery
Not enrolled: Qi Yuxi, Huang Zihao
