Yang Chen's U17 national football team is fully engaged in the preparation for the U17 Asian Junior Championship in Yuxi, Yunnan Province. In order to improve the level of competition, the players led by Yang Chen went to the United Arab Emirates, Spain and other countries to start warm-up, in-depth rehearsal tactics. Through simulated confrontations, the team made adjustments for their own deficiencies and strengthened the lineup in a targeted manner.
The U17 national soccer team, which was scheduled to leave for Japan on May 21 for 12 days of closed training, failed to make the trip. The three scheduled warm-up matches in Japan also failed to take place as scheduled. But this did not stop the team to actively prepare for the Asian Cup.
In Spain, the U17 national soccer team played seven matches against the local U19 men's soccer team, which was mostly a small-scale confrontation, but effectively improved the players' strength. The team is targeting to strengthen technical and tactical training, gradually adapting to the confrontation with strong opponents.
Facing tough opponents like Tajikistan, Australia and Saudi Arabia, our U17 Asia Cup grouping was not promising. However, the team played two rounds of warm-up matches overseas against Saudi Arabia and lost, with a difference of only one goal. By playing against West Asian teams, we got a better understanding of the tactical style of our opponents, which provided a favorable basis for the coaching staff to formulate tactics.
Since 2022, the CFA has improved the domestic U21 and U19 leagues, providing more quality playing opportunities for young players. The expansion of the domestic Chinese Super League, First Division and Second Division, as well as the overall promotion of school soccer, has further boosted the growth of young players.
The 2003 U20 national soccer team, which participated in this year's U20 Asian Cup, is the pioneer of China's soccer youth training system and campus soccer. They laid the foundation for the emergence of outstanding players, of which the U17 national soccer team was a beneficiary. the optimization of the U19 league has given the Yangchen Army more outstanding players to choose from.
The U17 national soccer team will be giving their best to try and secure a place in the World Junior Championships despite the tough opponents in the AFC Champions League. The team has traveled collectively to West Asia and Europe to train, where cohesion and patriotism have been the strengths of tactical cooperation. Training in Yunnan brings the team closer to Thailand in terms of preparation conditions and environment, providing favorable conditions for a good performance.
