Only a few weeks ago, our youth soccer team (National Youth) made a strong breakthrough in the Asian Youth Soccer Championship (AYSC) qualifiers and successfully entered the main round. Now, China's U16 national youth team is also about to leave for Australia to prepare for the upcoming intercontinental qualifiers. This time, the national team of Chinese men's soccer is once again standing on the stage of intercontinental qualifiers. The only goal of the national junior team is to break through and get a ticket for next year's Asian Junior Football Championship (AJFC).
Yang Chen leads the way
The head coach of the National Junior Team is Yang Chen, a famous player who has played in the World Cup in Korea and Japan. Although the domestic media has not paid much attention to this team, the team's neat and tidy hairstyles are striking and emphasize the team's spirit.
For the tournament, the National Junior Team was placed in Group G with hosts Australia, Cambodia and the Northern Mariana Islands. According to the rules, the top 10 groups and the six second-best finishing teams will advance to the main round of the Asian Junior Championships.
In Group G, if the Chinese National Junior Team wants to advance, they have to surpass the powerful Australian team and strive to finish first in the group. If they are unable to overpower Australia, the National Junior Team will have to secure second place in the group, in addition to getting as much goal difference as possible.
As a result of Timor-Leste's withdrawal, only three teams remain in Group H in which it plays. Therefore, the results of the other groups and the last-place team in the group will not be counted. Originally, the Northern Mariana Islands could be utilized as a "sender of points" to strive for goal difference, but this unexpected situation directly improves the difficulty of the National Junior Team to advance.
Similar to the National Youth Team, the National Junior Team has not played any international matches in the past two years. During the domestic period, the team chose Yuxi in Yunnan Province for physical reserve. The original plan to travel to Japan for training was not possible due to the epidemic. As a result, the National Junior Team has been traveling to Sydney, Australia since early September to prepare for the tournament.
In a month of preparation in Sydney, the National Junior Team played four warm-up matches with local youth teams, with a record of one win, one draw and two losses. Through the actual battle, the team found the feeling of the game, the warm-up goal has been achieved.
Aiming for top spot in the group
About a month later, the team moved from Sydney to Shepperton, the venue of the tournament, and stayed in the hotel designated by the organizing committee. Currently, the team is preparing for the upcoming first match against Cambodia. Head coach Yang Chen said in an interview that the national junior team's goal is to finish at the top of the group.
To the outside world, Cambodia is seen as a weak team, but in fact, under the leadership of the Japanese head coach, the team had beaten the substitute Australia team 4:2 in August this year. For the National Junior Team, this match is not to be missed.
"Australia is the strongest seeded team in the group and the host of the group stage. We are confident that we will be able to compete with Australia and at the same time not take Cambodia lightly. We are confident of advancing, one step at a time and playing steadily." Yang Chen said.
Today, the team will announce the 23-man roster for the first match. Huang Shenghao from Guangzhou City has been playing for the team before and his performance is worth expecting.
Currently, Australia is in the transition period from winter to spring and the weather is relatively cold. According to the organizing committee's arrangement, all matches of the National Junior Team will kick off at 3:00 p.m. local time, 12:00 p.m. Beijing time.
It is reported that the main Asian Junior Championship will be held next year. However, the exact venue of the tournament is not yet clear as Bahrain has given up hosting it. Sources said that Oman, which belongs to the same West Asia as Bahrain, is communicating with the AFC and is interested in hosting the tournament.
China National Junior Team Fixtures for this Qualifier
Date Time Matchup
October 5, 12:00 China vs Cambodia
October 7, 12:00 Northern Mariana Islands vs. China
October 9, 12:00 Australia vs China
