With the sixth U23 Asian Cup qualifier and the first stage of the Paris Olympic Games Men's Football Asian Qualifying Tournament, the 2001 Chinese youth team will return to Shanghai on February 7 for a 20-day closed training period on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, which is also the first assembly at the beginning of the New Year. It is worth noting that the national youth team will be "China's Olympic men's soccer team" a new look of the organization of training, this move marks the team's impact on the Paris Olympics into the decisive stage. For this reason, head coach Cheng Yaodong carefully selected 29 players to prepare for this training.
Since its formation as a training camp selection team more than five years ago, the 2001 CYC National Youth Football Team has always made preparation for the Paris Olympics its top priority, so the team itself is of Olympic age. However, as the team has participated in a number of games such as the Asian Youth Championships, the team has gone through various stages of preparation and competition such as the U19 National Football Team and the U21 National Football Team. According to the plan, the sixth U23 Asian Cup qualifying tournament and the first stage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifying tournament in Asia will kick off in September this year, so it is logical for the team to compete in the name of the U23 national soccer team or the Chinese Olympic team this year. According to the official training notice issued by the CFA, the team will train under the name "China Olympic Men's Football Team".
As of now, the AFC has not yet confirmed whether there will be any changes to the exact date of the first phase of the Paris Olympic qualifiers. If nothing else, the AFC will clarify the schedule after the AFC General Assembly in Bahrain in early February this year. Of course, regardless of the schedule, the Olympic team's preparation is on track. According to the preparation plan, the team will start a 20-day training in Shanghai from February 7 to 27, and then travel to Croatia in early March to start a number of matches against Croatian First Division teams. In addition, the Olympic team will play a series of warm-up matches against fellow European national teams, taking advantage of the FIFA national team matchday cycle. The team will not return home until the end of the international match day cycle in June.
A total of 29 players took part in the Shanghai training, some of whom were unable to return to the Olympic team due to other national team echelon commitments. For example, 2004-age player Wang Yiwei is currently preparing for the U20 Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates with the 2003-age U20 national soccer team, and 1999-age players such as Liu Zhuyun, Tao Qianglong, Liang Shaowen, and Huang Zihao make up the Asian Games men's soccer team, and Liang Shaowen also took part in the East Asian Cup last summer. They will not be able to return to the Olympic team in the short term as the Chinese Men's Asian Games team will be preparing for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
According to reports, the coaching staff has recruited a total of eight players for the training. Former Wuhan Changjiang player Chen Yuhao and Guangzhou's Wang Shilong prepared for and played in the Chinese Super League with their clubs last year, but were unable to train with the national Olympic team in Croatia. Chen Yuhao became the player with the most appearances and the longest playing time in the Chinese Super League last season. Wang Shilong's league appearance figures are equally impressive. With the new season of the Chinese Super League unable to start in the short term, their return to the National Olympic Team is logical.
Attacker Shi Yan, born in 2002, also returns to the team. in the 2022 season, he made 26 appearances for Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in the Chinese Super League, scoring two goals and assisting once. Abra Khan, who hails from Shanghai Port-Halik, did not make his debut until the final three rounds of last season's Chinese Super League due to injury. However, in those three games, he played the full game and showed great strength. His return to the Olympic team is no surprise.
In order to strengthen the team's midfield defense, the coaching staff of the national Olympic team once again recruited Yu Longyun, who played for Suzhou Dongwu last season.
Cangzhou Lions attacker Mafuyu returned to the Olympic team after three years as he maintained a high rate of appearances and scored four goals in last season's Super League.
Fernando, a senior center from Shanghai Shenhua, and Xie Wenneng of China's Qingdao Sea Cowboys, also returned to the Olympic team a year later. Fernando finished the U21 League at the end of last year with a solid performance and once again caught the attention of Cheng Yaodong. As some of the players in the Olympic team will participate in warm-up matches and official club matches respectively before the preliminaries of the Paris Olympics, injuries are unavoidable, and the coaching staff of the Olympic team will dynamically adjust the candidates for different periods according to the actual situation.
