With the Asian Games approaching this year, our Olympic team in Foshan earlier this month to kick off the preparations.
After ten days of sharpening, how effective is it?On February 13th, the National Olympic team battled with a second division team and ended up shaking hands with a 1-1 score.
The opponent is the powerful Dandong Tengyue team, which is not to be underestimated as it ranked second in the B-League last season with a record of 8 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses, and successfully promoted to the B-level.
In the match, 21-year-old Shanghai striker Liu Zhuyun was the first to break the deadlock for the Olympic team, however, the national team was unable to maintain the lead and Dandong leveled the score on penalties.The match ended 1-1 after 70 minutes.
The Olympic team's starting lineup is all from the Chinese Super League, with only three non-Chinese players, all of whom are among the league's best. Despite the fact that Dandong Tengyue is about to step into the Chinese A-League, the team's lineup is still dominated by Chinese B-League players, with many of China's top players in the lineup before the transfer window opens. However, it is saddening to see such a lineup fail to make a breakthrough in the B-League (it is reported that the Dandong team has two foreign aiders).
As for the reason for the poor performance, it may be related to the recent training arrangement of the Olympic team. Captain Tong Jie revealed that in the past ten days, the team has mainly conducted physical and military training, with the players running 80,000 to 10,000 meters in the morning and receiving military training in the afternoon. According to the official website of the Football Association, some of the players felt that the training intensity was too high and that they were physically and mentally exhausted. The warm-up match lasted only 70 minutes, which begs the question of whether the physical condition of the players was fully taken into account.
The warm-up marked the end of the first phase of training for the Olympic team. The following day, the players will depart for Dubai, UAE, for the second phase of training. The team will then play eight friendly matches against the UAE and Kyrgyzstan Olympic teams and local clubs. The Olympic team will then travel to New Zealand for the third phase of training and two more friendly matches.
The National Olympic team's preparations will continue until the opening of the new Chinese Super League season, while the Hangzhou Asian Games will kick off at the end of September.
Many people often say that if Chinese clubs abandon foreign aid, the strength gap between the Chinese Super League and Chinese B players is not obvious. Judging from the results of the National Olympic warm-up matches, this view seems not unreasonable. However, analyzing from another angle, although the National Olympic players can get a foothold in both the Chinese Super League and the Chinese A League, these players may only be able to reach the level of the Chinese B League under the abolition of the U23 policy.
I sincerely hope that this draw is not a reflection of the true strength of the Olympic team. If the status quo is maintained in overseas training, I am afraid that the performance in the Asian Games will be disappointing.
