Recently, the Chinese soccer world has been in a state of flux. The exposure of the alleged illegal incident of Chen Xuyuan, the chairman of the Football Association, was like a bolt from the blue, and the dark night of Chinese soccer seems to have ushered in a ray of light. At the same time, China U20 men's soccer team's preparation in Croatia is still in full swing. Not long ago, they started the third game of European training with Slovenia U20 team, but the result is still frustrating.
In anticipation of the U20 Asian Cup in March, China's U20 men's soccer team gathered urgently during the Chinese New Year to start a new round of training journey. The trip to the United Arab Emirates came to an end and the team moved to Croatia to meet the challenge of stronger opponents. Prior to this, the Chinese team has played with Latvia U20 and Croatia U20, with a record of 1 draw and 1 loss. Slovenia U20, as the final match of the European training, the team is eager to end the journey with a victory.
Similar to the match against Croatia, China U20 stuck to defense against Slovenia and relied heavily on counterattacks to create threats on the offensive end. In the first half, China's defense was tightly organized, and for the first time in three matches, the two sides went into the halftime break with a 0-0 draw. The first half, with the physical decline, the Chinese team defense loopholes. In the 70th minute, Slovenian forward Krupic seized the opportunity to take a 1-0 lead. After that, the Chinese team tried to counterattack, but the strength gap was obvious and the attack did not bear fruit. In the end, the Chinese team lost their second consecutive match with 0-1.
After the match, China's U20 men's soccer team's warm-up tour will also come to an end. The players will have a break before traveling to Uzbekistan to participate in the U20 Asian Cup. Looking back at the team's warm-up matches in Asia and Europe, there was only one win in eight matches, with no wins in the remaining seven, a worrying performance.
In the face of the sluggish performance of China's U20 men's soccer team, many fans are pointing the finger at Chen Xuyuan, the president of the Football Association (F.A.A.). During Chen Xuyuan's tenure as president of the FA, he was in charge of the men's national team at all levels, and coach Antonio was also in charge of the U20 men's soccer team under his support. Now that Chen Xuyuan is under investigation for violating the law, the U20 men's soccer team is bound to be affected. Coupled with the FA scandal that has drawn the attention of the world soccer community, China's U20 players will also face public pressure, which casts a shadow over their prospects for the tournament.
However, it is hoped that China's U20 men's soccer team can create a miracle in the face of adversity and bring a ray of light to Chinese soccer!
