Recently, China's U20 men's soccer team returned from the Asian Youth Championship held in Uzbekistan in glory. With the outstanding performance in the tournament, the Chinese team pushed the previous champion Saudi Arabia into the quarterfinals. This performance won the praise of many fans and media. Many fans stayed up late to go to the airport and held up banners welcoming the U20 National Youth Football Team, highlighting the passion of our fans.
However, the team was greeted by only four fans, including three women. These three women may be the family members or girlfriends of the young players, while the only male fan may be a close friend of the players. This scene is quite embarrassing to the outside world, fans jokingly said that the "3 women and 1 man" pick-up lineup set the worst record in the history of the national football team pick-up, which seems to indicate that Chinese soccer is facing a low point.
The national soccer team has produced brilliant records at its peak, especially its performance in the 2001 Top Ten Tournament, which made the national team popular. Whenever the national soccer team returned from the away game, the fans who received the plane were thronged and the players were hailed as heroes. But such scenes are feared to be difficult to reproduce in the near future for the national soccer team.
Unfortunately, the national soccer team has not performed well in recent matches, losing 1-3 away to Vietnam in the last Top 12 tournament. This loss plunged the Chinese men's soccer team into an unprecedented low, and its popularity and attention dropped. Fortunately, China's U20 men's soccer team brought hope and vitality to fans at the Asian Youth Championship. Although the team was in the Group of Death, with Japan and Saudi Arabia, the Chinese team was undaunted.
In the group stage, the Chinese team showed a tenacious fighting spirit and only lost to Japan by 1-2 in the first match. And in the second round of the tournament, with the unique performance of Efirdin, China beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 and took the initiative to get out of the tournament. In the end, China managed to advance to the quarter-finals of the Asian Youth Championship, much to the relief of many fans. The future prospects of this young Chinese U20 men's soccer team are highly anticipated.
