This cycle, China U20 youth soccer team arrived in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, to start the first warm-up of the European training. Facing the slightly weaker European Latvian youth team, they fell behind 0-2 in the unfavorable situation, only 2 minutes in the second half of two consecutive goals, to achieve a reversal, and finally 2-2 and the opponents shook hands. Although they did not have a clear advantage in the overall confrontation, this victory certainly boosted the team's morale.
During last month's training in Dubai, UAE, the Chinese U20 men's soccer team coached by Antonio played a series of warm-up matches against local teams and Syria, with a record of 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses, scoring 4 goals and conceding 5. Despite the overall performance, the lack of strength is still a key factor restricting the team's progress.
Following the trip to Dubai, the Chinese U20 team moved to Croatia and started a new round of overseas training. According to the established plan, the team will play a number of warm-ups in the next three weeks, Latvia is the first opponent.
As with the Dubai training, the Chinese U20 team once again chose to restrict live video of their opponents in order to keep their tactics under wraps. Domestic fans will have to go through the official news released by the Latvian Football Association to get an overview of the match and the result.
In the world ranking, China's men's soccer team is ranked 80th, while Latvia's men's soccer team is ranked 133rd, far inferior to Thailand, Tajikistan and India in Asia. This game, both sides to U19 age group players to play, although the Chinese team for the U20, but the face of the strength of Latvia, still need to go all out.
Latvia controlled the tempo of the game at the start of the match, taking the lead in the 15th minute of the first half. The Latvian team took the lead in the 15th minute of the first half, and then extended it again in the 29th minute to take a 2-0 lead at halftime. In the second half, the Chinese team gradually adjusted to the situation, equalized in the 72nd minute, and in the 74th minute again broke the goal, two goals in two minutes, equalizing the score to 2-2.
The victory was an outburst of adversity for China, showing the team's resilience from an overall disadvantage to an eventual equalizer. However, China still needed to equalize in the second half, which had something to do with the fact that their opponents fielded substitutes.
China's U20 team will leave for Uzbekistan early next month to compete in the U20 Asian Cup finals. At that time, the team will face strong teams such as Japan, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan. At present, facing even Latvia failed to win the situation, the difficulty of breaking through the death group is undoubtedly increased.
Statistically, the Chinese team is aiming to make an impact at the 2023 U20 World Cup in Indonesia, 18 years after the last time they participated in the World Junior Championships. This time, the impact, although hope exists, but the prospects are still slim.
