China's U18 National Youth Football Team, which has been preparing for the game in full swing at Changchun Yatai Football Club's Jingyue Base, openly staged an intense training session on the 25th. Anthony, the leader of the coaching team, confessed in front of the media that the team needs to maintain a high degree of concentration in the intense training, in order to prepare for the upcoming U20 Asian Cup in two years in advance.
On that day, the national youth team conducted technical and tactical training and group confrontation drills in the pouring rain. Shao Jiayi, the leader of the team, revealed that since the start of the training on the 13th, the team has insisted on more than three hours of training sessions every day and started two warm-up matches with Changchun Yatai U21 team and Yanbian Longding team of the Chinese B League, aiming to test the effectiveness of the training with the matches instead of the practice.
"No matter what kind of inclement weather is encountered, the players need to do their best to complete the training tasks. The next preparation will be more targeted." Shaw emphasized.
As a result of the epidemic, the AFC U16 Championship (the final stage of the Asian Junior Championship) scheduled for 2021 had to be canceled, and the National Junior Team, based on players in the 2003 and 2004 age groups, then turned to preparations for the U20 Asian Cup Qualifiers. Previously, under Anthony's leadership, the National Junior Team managed to qualify for the final round of the AFC Asian Junior Championships by winning three matches and drawing one, and topping their group.
"The cancellation of the Asian Junior Championship is deeply regrettable." Anthony said, "But today we can't dwell on the past and the upcoming Asian Cup will be a bigger test for the team and the national team."
In Anthony's view, the team's priority at this stage is to stick to intense training and keep honing the lineup. "We have to stay focused, the team has been successful in the Asian Junior Championships before and going forward we have to go all out to meet the challenges in line with the set goals." He said.
A total of 33 players have been selected for the National Youth Football Team training list. Shao Jiayi said that the current team has many players with outstanding individual ability and teamwork ability, and the offense and defense also show a diversified trend. The next step will be to find deficiencies through the game and learn a playing style more suitable for the team.
It is reported that the training will officially end on the 29th. According to the plan, the U18 national youth team will also play a warm-up match with Changchun Yatai first team.
