In a passionate showdown from September 5 to 15, Beijing time, the U15 East Asian Championship Group A group matches staged a focus battle - the South Korean U15 against the Chinese U15.
The 2023 East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) Men's U15 Championship made its grand opening in Qingdao, China from September 1 to September 8, attracting a total of nine teams from nine countries and regions to compete in the tournament. In the group stage, Group A consists of China and South Korea, Macau, Mongolia and Northern Mariana Islands, while Group B is led by Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Guam.
This year's EALA Boys' U15 Championship brought together nine national and regional teams in a tournament that was divided into two phases: group stage and knockout stage, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the semifinals.
The head coaching team of our U15 men's soccer training team comes from Evergrande Soccer School, who performed well in the U15 China Youth Soccer League Final, in which Japanese coach Masaki Nakamura served as the head coach. 11 players from Evergrande Soccer School contributed to the U15 National Soccer University's roster, occupying half of the team.
In the first round of the group stage, the U15 National Football Team defeated the U15 China Macao with a score of 13:0; in the second round, they defeated the U15 Mongolia with a score of 66:0; and in the third round, they faced the U15 Northern Mariana Islands and won with a horrible score of 235:0. U15 Korea also won against U15 Mongolia and U15 Northern Marianas with scores of 6:0 and 233:0 respectively, the same score as U15 China.
In the upcoming direct match between China U15 and South Korea U15, who is better? Let's have a glimpse of the starting lineups of both sides.
China U15 started with a 433 formation, with Yang Qiandong, Wang Gengrui and Bunyamin forming the frontline trident, Liu Jiale, Yao Junyu and Liu Shuanlin in the midfield, Zhang Hongfu, Shang Tianyu, Du Junhao and Han Yihang in the backline, and Zhang Congxi in goal.
The South Korea U15 starting lineup is 4231, with center forward Kang Min-jun sitting in the middle, players such as Kim Min-jun, Kim Seung-hyun, and Jang Yeo-han in the forward line, the double back is partnered by Lee Dong-geun and Moon Sung-min, and the four defenders are Seo-hwan, Kim Se-bin, Lee Sang-yun, and Han Joon-hee, while the goalkeeper is Park Do-hoon.
In the match, China U15 had a slight advantage in ball possession, but the actual performance was not good, Korea U15 had more shots and scored more goals than China U15. Korea U15 was better than China U15 in terms of number of shots and points scored, and in the 24th minute, China U15 striker Yang Qiandong scored a goal for the national football team by catching a mistake in the defense of Korea U15. However, in the 34th minute, China U15 made a mistake in defense, and Korea U15 player Jang Yeo-han easily sent the ball into the empty goal, equalizing the score to 1:1.
In extra time, China U15 had a single chance but failed to capitalize on it and it was parried out by the Korea U15 goalkeeper. In the end, both sides drew 1:1. For China U15, a temporary team, such a result is acceptable.
